Like to get to know you well
by happydemonhobo
Summary: AU:Complete: Yusuke's a struggling author, so his publicist forces him to make a public appearance. Deciding he doesn't want to do it alone, he turns to an escort service and meets a certain red head. Yusuke & Kurama. Yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. It belongs to its creator Yoshihiro Togashi and Funimation Entertainment.

**Summary:** Yusuke's a struggling author, so his publicist forces him to make a public appearance. Deciding he doesn't want to do it alone, he turns to an escort service and meets a certain red head. Yusuke/ Kurama. Yaoi.

Rated: **M**

**Like to Get to Know You Well**

Chapter 1

"Hey, Hiei, can I get another beer?" Yusuke Urameshi asked, holding up his almost empty bottle to get the bartender's attention.

"Just hold your horses detective." He heard the spiky black haired say.

Yusuke could not help but smirk at the nickname the bar owner had given him. Ever since Hiei had found out he was an author, he'd been called 'detective' ever since. Downing the drudge at the bottom of his second bottle, he placed it at the end of the table just as a fresh one was placed in front of him.

"Why do you call me that?" Yusuke asked, taking a sip of the fresh, chilled brew.

The short framed figure shrugged. "It just sounds right." He said and walked away, going back behind the bar.

Yusuke looked around as he waited for the person he was to meet. The place had not changed much in its five year existence. Thinking back to the first time he'd found this out-of –the-way, in-a-hole bar and realizing he had gone to school with the owner was a nice surprise. Though Hiei graduated a year ahead of him, they had known each other. Both had been punks, rival punks, but yet they had always seemed to have respect for each other for some reason.

Yusuke had not known what happen to the short, muscular, black spiked gravity defining haired, with a white star burst in front, after he graduated. He, himself, worked odd jobs and took some community college English classes, only to realize he wanted to be an author. Through the college, he found a publisher who believed in him and wrote his first book a few years ago. The sales were okay, nowhere near a bestseller, but it had sold enough for him to get enough money to afford a modest apartment and with some good investing, he still had enough money to live, though tight. To celebrate the first book, he had gone walking and found a bar that was sandwiched between a used bookstore (i.e. go figure) and a candle shop. The plain store front and little street advertising had drawn him in and he'd been coming here ever since.

Once inside, it was like stepping into another world, the black walls, dark woods and low lighting made it look like a dungeon. Because of Hiei's look and his two workers, who dressed in Goth, the place had sort of a 'Goth' feel to it, but was not decorated that way. It was plain. The long narrow place only had 5 tables, with two chairs each and a bar with about 8 barstools. Only beer advertising, in neon, decorated the wall on the opposite side of the mirrored bar. On his second visit, he saw Hiei and found out that the once rival owned the joint. Apparently Hiei had opened the bar as soon as he'd turned 21 and had been making a success out of it ever since. His key, to not make a big deal out of advertising and decorating, if you found him then he hoped you would become a regular and use word of mouth to tell your friends. At even given time after 5, when he opened, the place was almost full till closing, 1 am.

The door opened with its unique chime and Yusuke looked up to see the person he had been waiting for. The figure stopped just inside the door to let their eyes adjust to the low lighting before walking the rest of the way to the table he was sitting at.

"Sorry I'm late." His publicist said as she placed her oversize purse, bulging at the seams, on the floor beside her.

"No big." He shrugged, she was always late and he wondered why she continued to apologize.

"So, you say you have ideas for another book…it's about time. You shouldn't have waited so long. Not too many people are going to remember your last one and if this is a sequel than its going to be hard to get the other one republished…" Keiko started in as a glass of white wine was placed in front of her. "Thank you Shizuru." She tacked on, taking off her coat and placing it on the back of her chair.

"It's not a sequel." Yusuke finally got in. "It's a fiction idea based on a murder." He paused as she finally settled herself.

"Well that's definitely different, though it's been done before…so what's your topic?" She asked, taking a sip of wine.

"The murder of Master Genkai." He answered, almost cringing at what she would think.

She just shrugged. "Now that's a big step. You know a true crime book has already been done." She informed.

Yusuke retorted. "That was a load of crap."

Keiko lifted an eyebrow as he continued. "Think about it. The murder is still unsolved, even after almost a decade of tips, the case has gone nowhere."

"I'll agree it's a cold case, but what makes you think people will be interested now?" She asked.

The raven haired fiddled with his bottle, saying. "The anniversary is next year, ten years since the famous female martial artist was found dead in her temple. No one was ever arrested and to this day, the rumors are still going like wild fire." He shrugged. "I thought a fiction story would get people talking and maybe give the police motivation to re-open the case, plus make it a dedication to her Scholarship fund, maybe even do a donation of sells."

There was a moment of silence.

"Okay." Keiko finally said. "I'll give you two months to get me something to go with. It can be research material and maybe a chapter or two. I can't guarantee it will be a hit, but you are the only one who has thought of this idea. Who knows, there have been a few fiction books written on Jack the Ripper and others, so maybe you're on to something. The deadline needs to be about two months before the release date. That gives us time to get a run." She finished her wine before suggesting. "How about we shoot for the actual death date as the release date?" She smiled.

"I like it, thanks Keiko, I'm glad someone believes in me." Yusuke said, holding up his bottle for a toast.

"I still don't know what I see in you Yusuke Urameshi." She said, tapping her empty glass to his bottle.

"Beats me." He smiled back.

"Now, onto something you don't like talking about, but I have to keep trying none the less." She said seriously.

The raven haired lowered his head. 'Here it comes.' He thought.

"There is a big gathering next week of all the clients of the company. It would be propitious of you to make an appearance." She said, taking in his look of disapproval.

"You know I don't like crowds." He whined.

"Yusuke, no other wannabe author has ever met you, not to mention my co-workers. They all think you are a figment of my imagination. You owe me." She said.

"I'm just not a people person. I wouldn't know how to act." He admitted.

"You'll be fine. Besides, you could do a little fishing and see what others think." She tried to persuade.

"From what I know all the others are married, I'm not, so I….."

She cut him off. "So what."

"I just wouldn't fit in." He said softly.

"Look, if it bothers you that much, bring a date."

"Like who?" He said, flustered.

"I don't know…..how about Shizuru here." Keiko said, as the girl in question brought over another glass of wine.

"Hey Shizuru, want to go with me to a party?" Yusuke asked, trying to sound upbeat.

"Sorry Yusuke…I'm already seeing someone." She placed the glass and turned. "I don't think he'd be too happy." She added with a small smile over her shoulder as she walked off.

"See." Yusuke said, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"Okay…." Keiko said, picking up her bag and digging into the overflowing pit of items. "Here…it's completely up to you, but if it will make you come, try this place." She said, handing over a card.

Brown eyebrows rose. "An escort service…are you serious?" He said, looking at her with wide eyes.

"It's a legal business. Get you some pretty girl and hang her off your arm. Present yourself as a ladies man." She said, gathering her coat. "I gotta go. Please Yusuke, if you are serious about this book, you need to get yourself out there and get noticed. It could lead to some backing money."

"I'll think about it." He muttered as she walked away.

Finishing off his beer, Yusuke threw some money on the table and made his way out. Stepping out into the chilling air, he turned and headed home, which was only a few blocks.

"Get off me." He heard as he walked passed an alleyway.

The voice got his attention and the raven haired stopped, looking at where the voice came from. It was getting dark, but he could make out a figure cornering another one against a wall.

"I paid for you and I want what I paid for." The one doing the cornering said. His hands started rubbing the much smaller figure, causing them to squirm.

"You're drunk…you know that's breaking the rules. Also, you are to pay for the hotel in addition to the fee." The figure against the wall said, placing their hands to the other's chest and pushing, trying to get the drunk off them.

"Then since I won't be getting any, I want a refund." The man said.

"Sorry." The alto voice, that was relatively calm despite the situation, said. "No refunds either."

"You bitch." The bigger man growled, slapping the smaller figure across the face.

"Hey, get away from her." Yusuke shouted, he couldn't watch anymore and decided to step in and help.

"What'a you want punk. Can't you see I'm doing a business deal here?" The big burly man said, turning to the man who interrupted him.

"You heard her, she said you broke the rules and I can guess slapping her is breaking a rule too, so if I were you, I cut my losses and leave…..now." Yusuke said.

"You think he's a she, now that's funny." The man said, laughing.

Yusuke wasn't thinking as he placed a hand on the guy's shoulder.

The guy growled and went to take a swing, but being drunk, he was clumsy. Yusuke ducked and hit the guy in the gut, causing him to bend over with an 'oof' which in turn caused him to start coughing.

"Leave now." Yusuke said without turning his head, keeping his eyes on the drunk.

The guy went to grab the raven haired's leg, trying to pull him off his feet, but Yusuke stepped back in time and kneed the guy in the face. The figure fell back with a gush of blood erupting from his nose.

"Let's go." Yusuke said, not taking his eyes off the guy as he reached for a hand and led the other figure out to the street.

Making it to the lighted sidewalk, the figure pulled their hand out of his.

"You okay?" Yusuke asked as he turned to look at the woman.

His chocolate eyes went wide as he realized it was not a woman, but a young man. He could see where he thought it was a woman. He was not too tall, slimmed figure, but what really stood out was the long, blood red, hair and large green eyes that looked like two emeralds had been glued to a pale, soft, delicate face. Anyone not looking closely would think he was a female.

"I am fine, thank you." The soft voice said.

"Ah." Yusuke gulped. He'd never seen a cross dresser before, well one that looked this good. Though he wondered if he was a cross dresser. The white slacks and deep red dress shirt looked like something a guy would wear out on the town.

Taking in the look and seeing it many times before, the young man turned. "Thank you again." He said and proceeded to walk away.

"Wait." Yusuke said, stopping the man.

The red head turned and stood there.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Yusuke asked and proceeded to pull out a handkerchief from his back pocket. He then offered it to the red head.

The man took it, looking at the young handsome raven haired and the concern in his big chocolate eyes.

Yusuke tapped his lip with a finger, causing the red head to lick his. Tasting blood, the red head put the cloth to his lip, stopping the trickle of fluid.

Handing the cloth back, the red head bowed his head and turned, leaving the raven haired standing there with his foot in his mouth.

End Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_Red hair spilled across the pillow. The usually large green eyes were half closed, glazed over with lust. Soft whimpers, along with short gasps and moans, escaped the pale red lips in pleasure. _

(RING)

_A pink tongue would dart out, licking dry lips, followed by white teeth biting said lips, trying to suppress any noise, but failing._

(RIIIINNGGG)

_Sweat glisten the pale flesh in the heat of passion as legs spread in wanton._

(RRRRIINNNGGG)

Brown eyes opened wide as the sound penetrated sleep. "Damn." Yusuke muttered.

Looking at the clock and seeing it was almost noon made the raven haired groan in frustration. Getting ready to slide out of bed, the voice on the answering machine caught his attention.

"Yusuke, I hope you are out doing research." The voice of Keiko started in. "And also I'm calling to remind you that this Friday night is the gathering and you better be there. I've already told everyone, so you better not stand me up. You HEAR ME YUSUKE! …………Okay bye." She said softly before the answering machine went dead.

Letting out a deep sigh, Yusuke went to remove the covers and realized he had done it again. He'd had a wet-dream. 'Man this just blows.' He thought, getting up and removing his soiled underwear.

What in the hell was wrong with him. It's been a week and a half and he still couldn't get the red head out of his head. He hadn't even seen the guy since that night and just from that one encounter, he couldn't get the sight of those large green eyes and that flowing red hair out of his mind.

The first night after he'd rescued the red head, he had gone to bed and woke with a raging hard on. In his dream, the red head was under him, begging to be taken and the dream had continued almost every night since. The only thing that disturbed Yusuke most was that in his dreams, 'he' was a 'she'. Complete with a set of nice size breasts and curvier hips.

Thinking back to the dreams only made Yusuke realize he had not completely finished his release. Growling in frustration, he made his way to the shower and under the warm water, quickly handled his built up desire. Finishing up in the shower, he dressed and made his way to the kitchen.

Grabbing a bowl of cereal, the raven haired sat down on the couch and shoved aside a two inch stack of papers to make room for his bowl on the coffee table. He started reading a sheet in between bites of food. The two inch stack was his results from the local library. He'd gone a few days after talking with Keiko and after spending all day, from the time the library opened to almost closing, he'd made a copy of every article ever written on the murder of master Genkai. Spending about fifty buck to have anything from a front page with pictures, to a one column on page 12, he'd wanted everything he could get his hands on and the library had been the first place to start.

Taking his empty bowl to the sink, Yusuke grabbed his phone on the way back and plopped back down on the couch.

Dialing a number, he began stuffing the papers in a folder while he waited for the other end to pick up.

"Desk, Sergeant Seaman." He heard.

"Hey Seaman, how's it going?" Yusuke said. Grabbing the phone before it fell from his shoulder.

"Okay." The voice said.

"Hey I was wondering if I could talk to Kuwabara, is he hanging around there somewhere."

"You mean Detective Kuwabara?" The voiced questioned.

"That would be the one." He said.

"And whom shall I say is calling?" The voice was sounding a little unsure about the caller.

"Just tell him if he doesn't take my call, I'll come down there and personally kick his ass." Yusuke smiled.

"Hold please."

Yusuke placed the phone back between his head and shoulder before grabbing pens and highlighters, shoving them in a bag.

"What do you want Urameshi?" The gruff voice of Kuwabara finally answered.

Dropping everything again and grabbing the phone, the raven haired started to pace. "I need a favor." Yusuke spilled.

"A favor…..you realize you owe me several." Kuwabara said.

"I know, just hear me out will ye."

"Five minutes."

"Okay." Yusuke said. He had started walking the apartment, looping in and out of the kitchen and then looping the couch before repeating. "I'm starting another book and I want you to get me copies of all the files you have, anything you can get would be a great help."

"What do you want?" The voice said, sounding unsure.

"I want any records on the death of Master Genkai." Yusuke said.

"WHAT?" The voice level went up an octave and Yusuke held the phone away from his ear.

Replacing the phone to his ear, Yusuke said. "You heard me blockhead."

"Yeah I heard you…and just how am I suppose to get you these…copies." The voice asked.

Yusuke crossed his fingers. "I don't know, you have connections, I just want copies. Anything you can get would be helpful." He begged.

"You know that case is cold and I mean frozen. No one wants to even re-open it." Kuwabara informed.

"I'm just going to write a fiction thriller on the murder for the ten year anniversary, honest." Yusuke held up his hand even though it couldn't be seen by the detective. "And I just want to get as many facts straight as possible. I don't necessarily need photos or anything classified, just….well anything…..please." He resorted to whining.

"You're up to three beers now." He could hear in the man's voice that he'd won.

Yusuke couldn't help bur crack a smile. "You bet yeah, but it's not my fault you work all the time and can't make it."

"Whatever, just give me a few days and I'll see what I can do…I gotta go." The phone went dead.

"YES." Yusuke cheered, hanging up the phone with a victory dance, his high school buddy had yet to let him down.

Placing the phone on the coffee table, the raven hair continued gathering items. Figuring he would go to the park and take advantage of the fresh air and warm weather. He could find a table and continue to cross reference the information he'd collected so far.

Opening the front door, Yusuke grabbed his cell phone and a card fell from the hall table. Picking it up, he realized it was the one Keiko had given him for the escort service. 'What do I have to lose?' He thought. Maybe that's what he needed, a good lay. He defiantly had not had one in quite awhile. Maybe just maybe, he could get himself a red head and make his dreams become reality.

Shoving the card in his pocket, along with the phone, he shouldered his bag and headed out, thinking he would stop by the place before he headed back home for the evening.

Making the short walk to the park, he found a table under a set of trees and began digging out his papers. Taking out his cell phone and laying it with the items on the table, he again found himself holding the card. Looking at it, he read the name and address.

_**Raven's Escort Service**_

_**Where your fantasies come to life**_

He read the address and noted it was on the other side of town. Not having a car, because he was able to walk to everything he needed from his apartment, he went in search of a pay phone, hoping to find a phone book and a taxi number.

End Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I says this woods be thy place, don't ye think." The taxi driver said as he pulled up to the curb.

Yusuke looked at the one-sided mirrored glass door and then looked at the card. The name did not appear on the glass, but the numbers were printed in gold.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Yusuke said, gathering his stuff and getting out. Digging in his pocket, he fished out some bills and handed them through the open window.

"Thank'ya. Do yous wish me to wait o we bit?" The driver asked.

"What…uh…no…I don't know how long I'll be." Yusuke stuttered out. He was fighting a headache as he tried to understand the bright orange haired Irish man. The guy had talked non-stop since he was picked up at the park's entrance, with the raven haired only understanding half of what was said.

"Suit'ye self." The man said, reaching over and grabbing something off the dashboard. "Heres, yous might find ye'self needen this now, that ye will." He handed the raven haired a card.

Yusuke looked at it, reading.

_**Jin's **_

_**O'Friendly Taxi Service**_

_**Ride with the luck of the Irish**_

Pocketing the card, the raven haired gave a nod and headed to the door. Taking a deep breath, he pulled it opened and immediately hit a flight a stairs.

Making it to the top of the landing, he noticed a solid wood door on his left. Reading the plaque, he saw he was at the right place. Taking another deep breath, he pushed opened the door.

He had the feeling of walking into a doctor's office. The walls were a wallpaper texture and the sitting area was done in those, all too famous, office style wood chairs with floral print seats. There were four and a simple dark wood end table holding a glass based lamp, complete with a white plastic covered shade and magazines divided the chairs into twos. A large print of some wannabe Monet was hanging above it. He noticed no one was waiting as he made his way to the small glass enclosed area across from the chairs.

No one was seated at the desk behind the glass and he looked to see if there was a call button, or bell, to ring for service. All he saw was another gold plaque saying the name 'Juri'.

Thinking maybe this was not such a good idea and that he should leave, he turned just as an unmarked door behind the glassed area opened.

"Oh sorry, have you been waiting long?" The young girl asked. She had long aqua/blue hair tied in a ponytail at her neck with a pink scarf wrapped on top of her head. She was wearing some sort of black spandex body outfit. Yusuke noted the various cutout areas in the suit, leaving little to the imagination. Not even the matching pink shawl tied in a big bow at her chest covered enough of her.

"Uh, no." Yusuke gulped.

"Good, I don't think I could take anymore complaining today." She said, taking a seat. "What can we do for you?" She asked, looking up with large dark eyes.

"I need a…well I need someone to go……" Yusuke tried to say, fidgeting. Not quite knowing how to state his request.

"You need a date." The girl said smiling. "That's what we do."

"Yeah, a date." Yusuke said, scratching the back of his head as he blushed.

"Just have a seat. Mr. Karasu is with a client right now. He shouldn't be more than a few minutes." She said and pointed to the chairs.

"Okay, thanks." Yusuke said and walked over to a chair. Placing his bag on the floor and picking up a copy of GQ before sitting. He started flipping the pages without paying any real attention.

He saw Juri cringed as a loud voice filtered out from somewhere in the back.

"Don't tell me to keep my voice down. I don't care who in the hell hears me. You are not being fair." A loud threatening voice said.

Yusuke looked at Juri, who shrugged and smiled innocently.

Another voice could be heard, only this one was soft and calm. "I'm sorry Bakken, you have broken too many rules and you definitely crossed the line when you started hitting one of my best requests. I'm no longer willing to let your antics slide. Your account as of this moment is terminated and I suggest you leave now. If you don't, I will have you escorted out." The voice stated its own threat.

Juri picked up a phone and spoke so softly, Yusuke couldn't hear what was said. A few minutes later, a large body builder type man came in and walked to the glass front.

"Mr. Karasu needs your assistance Bui." Juri told him.

The man turned to Yusuke, who gulped as he took in the short, white blonde, spiky hair. He couldn't help but notice the blue star burst tattoo that started on the man's forehead and went down the bridge of his nose to the each cheek just under his eyes.

Yusuke looked down, deciding to show interest in the magazine. He heard a buzzer noise and the man named Bui opened a solid wood door beside the glass front, disappearing behind it.

The raven haired thought again about leaving and he put the magazine down. He was getting ready to grab his bag, when the door to the back opened and Bui came out with a man in tow. He was holding them by the collar of their shirt.

"I'm sorry. It will never happen again, I swear. Please, I don't even remember hitting anyone. Just one more chance…" Anything else the man was going to say was cut off as the outer door closed.

Standing and shouldering his bag, Yusuke turned to leave when the other door opened again.

"May I help you?" He heard the soft, calm voice from earlier.

Turning back, Yusuke took in the look of a tall, thin, pale man. He had long, straight, jet black hair that went to his waist and he was wearing black leather pants with a matching jacket, which was lined in red. The jacket was long cut, reaching past his knees and it was only being held closed by one button at the waist. The rest of the jacket v-ed opened, showing off a shirtless, hairless, pale chest. The bottom half looked like it would flare as he walked.

"I don't think this was such a good…" Yusuke tried to say, but was cut off.

"Now, now, come. You would not be here unless you required companionship." The man Yusuke took for Mr. Karasu placed his arm across his shoulder and led him through the door leading to the back.

Walking him to another unmarked door along a hallway, Karasu opened the door and gently pushed the raven haired in.

"Have a seat." Karasu said as he walked around a leather chair and went to sit behind a large solid glass top desk that was supported by silver metal legs and had its own leather swivel chair.

Yusuke took the seat and placed his bag on the floor beside him.

"Where do you need to show off a date?" Karasu asked, studying the young man and taking in his features.

Yusuke shrugged. "It's just a social gathering."

"I see. With your looks, I'm surprised you don't have dozens of women already lined up, begging to be taken." The black haired man mused.

"Yeah, well." Yusuke scratched the back of his head shyly.

"No need to worry. I'm sure you can find something you like." Karasu said and handed the young man a large 2 inch ring binder. Inside were dozens of 8 x 10 glossy photos in clear protectors.

"Have a look. They are in no particular order, though the prices do vary." Karasu informed before turning his chair away and giving some privacy. He rolled to a smaller table behind the desk and started shuffling papers.

Yusuke crossed his leg, placing his ankle on his knee so he could sit the book better on his lap. He started turning pages, some he looked at closely and some he just immediately turned the page.

There were men as well as women featured in the book. The only notations were printed at the bottom. It appeared to only give a name followed by either nothing or the word 'both'.

Some, he could tell, were defiantly women and some defiantly men, but there were several he had to stop and look at closely. A person by the Shishi caught his attention. With the long blue hair and soft, young, delicate features, it took him a moment to realize it was a 'he'. Another one named Itsuki was the same way, the long hair that was bluish on top, but black along the bottom, also took him a moment to realize he was a he.

He flipped through more names like Kokou, Sensui and Natsume before he realized he was on the last page of the book and there his breath hitched in his throat. The red head, the one he had saved last week was staring at him from a colored 8 x 10 glossy.

Karasu didn't turn around as he held his smile and composer. It seemed even the straightest man had that same reaction to his prize request. Giving another moment, he finally turned, saying. "Find something you like?"

"Huh, uh…" Yusuke stuttered, almost dropping the book. He'd barely caught the name Kurama, followed by the word 'both' before he managed to flip the book to the middle and pointed to a girl, well, what he hoped was a girl, he really wasn't paying any attention after being caught looking at a male.

"Koto." Karasu said with a soft smug smile. "She is nice…perky and I'm sure she'll be an excellent date for your 'social' gathering."

"So what do I need to do?" Yusuke said, clearing his throat and closing the book. He un-crossed his leg so he could lean forward and place the book on the table.

Karasu pushed a button on his phone. "Juri dear, would you be so kind as to send Rinku in with a contract." Addressing Yusuke again, he said. "It will only take a minute."

A few minutes passed before a young boy, looking no older than 12, walked in carrying an official looking document.

"Here you go." The boy handed the paper to Karasu and then left, closing the door behind him.

"Um…isn't he a little young to be working in a place like this." Yusuke couldn't help but ask.

"Rinku, no, we have to start them young now days." Karasu replied, he was reading the paper and hadn't even looked up. Finally looking up, he handed the paper over to Yusuke and said.

"We just need you to sign the bottom line. There will be no need for your address. We only require a credit card number to keep on record. Koto is in group A, so as you can see her price is in that category listed first. We will bill half now and half the day after your date. The contract states in laymen terms that you will pick her up outside here and she will need to be dropped of no later than eleven pm. If she does not check in by eleven, the police will be called."

Yusuke tried to blush as he tried to ask. "What, um what if I want to…you know…spend…"

"You may pay for a hotel for a night, but she still must make contact here by eleven and than again by ten am. Again if no phone call has been made by the ten am time, the police will be called. In addition, no smoking or drugs are allowed, but light drinking is permitted. You can get as kinky as you wish, but under no circumstances is hitting allowed. Are there anymore questions?" Karasu paused and waited.

"No." Yusuke said, digging out his wallet and handing over a credit card. While the number was being written down, he quickly scanned the contract and read that he was not allowed to take a date to his place and that under no circumstances was he to go to the 'date's' place of residence.

"What time will you need her?" Karasu asked, handing the card back and taking the now signed contract.

"This Friday, say seven." Yusuke answered and stood before grabbing his bag and shouldering it.

"Have a wonderful time." The man said standing and holding out his hand, which Yusuke shook.

"Thanks." The raven haired replied. He turned and walked out, not even acknowledging Juri as he headed straight for the outside.

Once outside, he noted the time, late evening. The sun would be setting soon. He debated whether to call the cab company or take the train, which would get him home, only pass dark.

He didn't get a chance to decide before his cell phone rang, answering, he heard Kuwabara's voice on the other end.

"Where are you?" He was asked.

"First and Main." He answered.

"Stay put, I'm on my way." With that, the phone went dead.

Shrugging, Yusuke walked over to a nearby deli and bought a soda before taking a seat at an outside table to wait.

End Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Yusuke finished his soda and looked at his watch, just as an unmarked blue sedan slowed and then parked in a no-parking zone at the curb. The raven haired watched a tall, broad, orange haired man, wearing a long navy blue trench coat, get out of the car and walk towards him.

"Hey, you can't park there." Was heard from their left.

"Back off." Kuwabara growled, flashing a badge at the person, who shrugged and walked off.

"What's up?" Yusuke asked as he stood, grabbing his bag.

"I want my three beers…now." Kuwabara firmly stated. Yusuke could tell he was agitated about something.

"Okay, chill. Let's just head to the Dragon's Den." Yusuke suggested, trying to calm his high school buddy as he headed to the car.

Kuwabara started the car and without so much as a glance to the mirrors, did a u-turn. Cars honked and people yelled.

"Idiots." Kuwabara muttered, reaching down and turning on the car's flashing lights.

The traffic parted like Moses parting the Red Sea and people walking quickened their pace.

The u-turn caught Yusuke off guard and he grabbed what he called the 'Sweet Jesus Handle' above the window, hanging on for dear life.

After a few blocks, Kuwabara turned off the lights, which allowed Yusuke to calm and let go of the handle. Nothing was said the entire drive and finally the car parked outside the bar Yusuke visited often.

Still nothing was said as they got out and walked into the dim place.

"So the fool's still alive." Hiei said as he saw the two, but mostly the orange haired detective.

"Shut up shrimp. I'm not in the mood. Just get me three beers." Kuwabara ordered as he went to the furthest table in the back.

"Actually Hiei, make it two beers and an order of chili fries." Yusuke corrected as he followed.

They took their seats and settled themselves as two beers landed on the table. Kuwabara grabbed one and downed half of it in one draw.

"Whoa, slow down big guy." Yusuke said. "Tell me what's got your knickers in a twist."

Kuwabara pulled a folded, large yellow envelope out of his coat pocket and tossed it on the table.

"What's this?" Yusuke asked, picking it up and opening the flap. He pulled half way out a stack of papers covered in black lines marking out most of the first page he saw. "This is the file on Genkai." He said softly. Not believing his eyes. "How did you get this so quickly?"

"You owe me big time. I could have lost my job." Kuwabara said before downing the rest of his beer and signaling for another one.

"How?" Yusuke asked, shoving the papers back in the envelope and placing them in his bag. He wanted to be alone when he looked over the information.

"The file is tagged." Kuwabara answered, as Shizuru walked over with another beer and the chili fries. "Hey sis." He muttered.

"Big bro." She nodded. "Long time no see." She added, placing the items and taking the empty bottle.

"No more beer, I don't want you to get caught driving a police cruiser drunk." Yusuke said, pushing the fries closer to his friend.

Kuwabara nodded and picked at the food.

"Well, are you going to tell me what's gotten you this agitated?" Yusuke finally asked after minutes of silence.

"I called down to records and requested the file on Genkai. When I went do to get it, the DA was standing there waiting." His friend finally said.

"So." Yusuke didn't understand.

"Apparently the file is red flagged, when anyone requests that file, little 'kiss-ass' File Clerk Jorge makes a call to the DA and tells him the file was asked for."

"Why would the DA care about this file?" Yusuke wondered, still trying to understand.

"I don't know." Kuwabara exclaimed by slamming his bottle on the table.

"Okay, chill, what did he say?"

"He drilled me for what seemed like hours, wanting to know why I requested the file."

"What did you tell him?" Yusuke asked.

"The truth…I told him about you and your book." Kuwabara said.

"Did he believe you?"

"Yeah and he was tickled pink about it. He even took the file and said he would make the copies. I didn't even open the envelope when it was delivered later. I don't want to see it. That man gives me the creeps." Kuwabara shuddered like he was cold.

Yusuke just nodded as he thought about DA Toguro. The man has been District Attorney forever, it seemed. He was elected about 10 years ago, but again it seemed like forever.

"Whose mother in their right mind names their child 'Elder' anyways?" Kuwabara wondered aloud, taking a bite.

Yusuke shrugged. "Beats me. But thanks for the info, I didn't mean for it to be a pain."

"You said this was a fiction novel, why do you want police information?" Kuwabara asked.

"I at least want to put in the public info, things that are common knowledge about what might have happened. Cross reference with the newspaper articles and see what's true and what the papers may have dreamed up. Know the list of suspects and such. I don't know yet what I'm going to do about the killing itself…" Again, Yusuke shrugged.

Looking at his watch, the orange haired stood and finished off his beer. "I gotta go, you want a ride?"

"No thanks, I can walk from here." Yusuke said. Holding up his beer, he toasted his friend. "Thanks again, I still owe you."

"Yeah, you do." Kuwabara informed and walked out.

Finishing the rest of his beer and the fries, Yusuke placed some money on the table and grabbed his bag.

Minutes later, with the sun setting for the night, the raven haired keyed into his apartment. He placed his bag on the coffee table before heading over to check his messages. There were three, another one from Keiko about the party, one from Kuwabara saying he would call his cell and the last one was from the escort service, confirming his date and time.

Realizing he was tired, Yusuke showered and slid into bed. The cab driver, the escort service and then his friend left him feeling drained and his nerves were, still, on edge. Closing his eyes, he fell into a dreamless sleep, but it didn't last long as red hair and green eyes from a glossy 8 x 10 picture took over.

a)a)a)a

A few days past and Friday finally rolled around. Yusuke decided to keep his mind occupied until it was time to pick up his date. Taking a morning jog, his mind wondered over the papers Kuwabara had given him. Not much of the information was any good. Many pages were missing and what he did have was mostly blackened out by marker. So he didn't know what he could use. He did have a list of suspects and saw Hiei's name, he sort of remembered hearing that the high school punk took martial arts lesson, but he never heard where or for how long. There was a rough draft of an autopsy report and he thought maybe he could get Kuwabara to make him an appointment to talk to the coroner about the results, but he decided to wait a few days to let his friend cool off.

Finishing his jog, he stopped outside the mail boxes and keyed into his box. A white letter size envelope caught his attention. It was not in the box, but had been stuffed along the side of the door. It only said his name and apartment number, in a typed print. Sticking it with the rest of the mail, he headed up and keyed into his apartment. Throwing the mail on the hall table, he stripped and took a quick shower. Heading to the kitchen, he was thinking he should go shopping for a dress coat. He could wear jeans and had a dress shirt, but not a nice coat. Grabbing a bowl of cereal, he grabbed the mail off the table and sat on the couch. Placing the bowl on the coffee table, he opened the plainly marked letter. He thought maybe it was from his landlord or a neighbor, but what he read gave him chills.

In a type print it read:

_**If I was you, I would watch how far you went, you don't want to dig up to much of the past, or you might find yourself buried along with it.**_

The letter was unsigned.

End Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Wes seems tos bes o'wee bits early. That's no probl'm, wees just sit obits as Is cans finish me story on thats dream Is had, thats Is will." Jin said as he parked the cab along the curb. Looking out the window to the sidewalk, he saw a person standing there and asked. "Is this who's ye be waiting ons?"

"What." Yusuke said from the backseat. He had been lost in thought, thinking about the note he had received earlier that day, but mostly thinking about who all knew by now he was writing a book on the death of Master Genkai.

"Is asks if thats bes whos ye wait'n ons." Jin said again, looking in the rearview mirror at him.

Looking to the sidewalk, Yusuke had to blink a few times to register who he was seeing. The red head, the one whose name he now knew, was Kurama. The red head was wearing all white, but it was covered by a dark green Chinese style tunic, trimmed in pink and a pink obi was tied around his slim waist.

Noticing Jin was still looking at him in the mirror, he said. "No, sorry, that's not them."

Jin shrugged and continued his story he had started when he picked him up. "As I was ye saying, tis was a beauty of an island, lots o trees and…….."

Yusuke tuned him out and kept his eyes on the red head. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, he glanced to the other side as a limo pulled next to the cab and then slid into the space in front of them. The door opened and a hand was seen motioning the red head in. Looking back to the red head, Yusuke's eyes went wide. Did he imagine it, or did the red head's expression change. At first the lean frame was standing there looking lost, sad and lonely, but as soon as the limo pulled up and the door opened, a bright smile covered his face. It was a smile Yusuke for some reason could tell was false, a show for the client. The red head walked over and got in the limo, of course the windows were tinted so he couldn't see what was going on inside. The brake lights came on and the limo slid back out on the road, merging into traffic before turning at the next corner.

The door Yusuke had went into to get to the escort service opened and a young girl walked out. She was of average height and had curly orange-brown hair that barely touched her shoulder. The raven haired would call her cute, but not pretty or beautiful. He moved from her face to the outfit she was wearing and cursed, he didn't remember telling Mr. Karasu what kind of social gathering it was, i.e. formal or casual and she was dressed a little too casual. Wearing pink shorts and a white, sleeveless top that had a wide yellow collar and was that a blue necktie? Yusuke rolled his eyes as he remembered that 'yes' this was the girl he'd chosen out of the book. Taking a deep breath, he got out and approached her.

"Uh, hi, are you Koto?" He asked as she started checking him out. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans that were brand new, still having the cresses, which would be gone after their first washing. A dark green dress-shirt was covered by a new blue sport's jacket. Brown loafers and matching belt completed the outfit.

"You Yusuke?" She asked, finally looking at his face.

Running a hand through his gelled hair, he said. "Yeah."

Looking at the cab, she said. "Let me guess, you don't own a car?"

"No, sorry, I hope this is okay." He tried to smile, but it came out lopsided, though she didn't seem to care.

"Well, shouldn't we be going?" She said, walking over and opening the door.

"Yeah…yes….here let me get that for you." Yusuke said and moved to take her place by the door. She slipped in a foot and he noticed she was wearing blue high-top sneakers. Rolling his eyes again, he closed the door and went around to the other side. Getting in, he gave Jin the new address and sat back wondering how he was going to get through the evening sane.

a)a)a)a

The cab pulled into a circular drive of a lavish hotel, complete with a water fountain in the center. Yusuke was thinking Keiko's boss had gone all out this time.

Koto had been looking at the hotel as the cab inched its way behind other cars that were dropping off people. Turning to Yusuke, she asked. "So what is it you do?"

"Oh, um… I'm an author." He answered as he saw a limo a few cars ahead of them in line. He was telling himself that there were many limos here and out tonight, so what were the chances that that was the one containing the red head.

Koto noticed his look and followed his gaze. "Wishing you rented a limo?" She joked lightly.

"Yeah, sorry, I was told this was a casual get together." He tried to laugh. Not realizing that was not quite what she meant.

Nothing was said as they finally made it to the front of the hotel, still three cars back, Yusuke watched the limo drive up and a curb attendant open the door. A tall gentleman, with short brown hair got out, wearing a blue Chinese tunic, complete with a red obi and a red dress cape. He smiled and said something to the attendant before turning and offering a hand to the occupant in the limo, a slim hand reached out taking the offered one and Yusuke's breath hitched. The red head got out, still smiling, he nodded at something that was said and then wrapped his arm around the waist of is companion. The two began walking to the entrance as the limo drove off.

"You okay?" He heard and turned to Koto.

"Yes, I'm fine, just nervous, I don't like going to these things, but my publicist said I had to be here." He said, rubbing his hands on his jeans.

Koto just shrugged and looked out the window as the cab finally pulled up to the drop off point. The door opened and Koto took the hand that was offered, she thanked him and Yusuke slid out, while slipping Jin some money.

"Calls me wins ya be needin' tos leaves." The bright orange haired said with a smile.

"Sure." Yusuke said.

The raven haired turned and offered Koto his arm as they made their way into the crowded lobby.

a)a)a)a

The gathering was being held in the bar room and Yusuke learned there were five bars in the hotel as he read the sign inside the lobby. As he read the board, trying to figure out which bar they needed to go to, he could not help but think what event the red head was here for. In addition to the author's gathering, he saw there was a reception, a bachelor party and some sort of bird organization meeting. The last bar only read 'open', which made him think that it was open to the hotel guests who were staying here. Checking the number again, he escorted Koto to the right set of double doors. Opening one for her, he followed her into a large room.

The room was to large for the small party of people gathered. About twenty men and women were walking around, holding drinks and socializing. Going straight to the bar, Yusuke asked for a beer and reached for his wallet. The bartender stopped him. "It's on the house. The bill's been paid for the evening."

"Thanks." Yusuke said, turning to Koto, he asked. "You want something?"

She asked for a glass of wine. "So." She said. "Aren't you going to walk around and talk to these people?"

"No." He said, taking a drink.

She shrugged and sat down on a bar stool. "So are these people authors too?" She asked, trying to make conversation.

"I guess. I know a few, but the others I've never met." He answered, scanning the room.

"You see the lady in the red dress?" He motioned with his beer to a woman on their right.

She nodded and he said. "That's Keiko, she's my publicist. She's the one who talked me into coming."

"Why?" Koto asked.

"So I can meet other authors and maybe someone who would want to back my next book." He informed.

"So shouldn't you be talking to them?" Koto said, not understanding.

"If they want to know who I am, they know where I'm at." Yusuke said, finishing off his beer and motioning for another one.

The woman Koto learned was Keiko walked over. "Yusuke Urameshi, you made it." She smiled, giving him a hug. "And who's this?" She asked, looking at Koto, who gave her a cheesy smile.

"This is Koto. Koto, Keiko, my publicist." Yusuke made the introductions.

"Nice to meet you." Keiko said, offering a hand. Koto hesitated, but then returned the gesture.

Turning back to Yusuke, Keiko said. "Well, do you recognize anybody?"

"Should I." He said, picking up his fresh beer.

"Let's see." She muttered, scanning the room and then pointed to a gentleman. "See that tall, broad gentleman over next to the window, the one in the long grey trench coat.

Yusuke nodded and took in the guy. He was tall and broad like she said, his hair was long and black, but what really got his attention was, his eyes were closed.

"That's Mr. Yomi." Keiko said, seeing that Yusuke saw him. "He's blind, but is writing wonderful books. He's even having them printed in Braille so other blind people can enjoy reading."

"That's nice." Yusuke praised, trying to sound interested.

What seemed like forever, Keiko finally finished pointing out everyone in the room and telling them who they were and what they were doing. He nodded politely through the whole thing hoping she would go away.

"That's funny." She said, scanning the room and not seeming to find what or who she was looking for.

"What?" Yusuke wondered, hoping he didn't miss something important.

"Oh, there he is." She said with relief. "He must have stepped out for a moment."

Yusuke turned to the see who she was looking at and his breath hitched. 'Damn, I need to quit doing that.' He thought. The man he had seen getting out of the limo was standing just inside the door. The red head beside him, looking a little wrinkled. His red hair was tousled, but a hand was brushed through it, putting it somewhat back in place.

The other man leaned over and whispered something in the red head's ear, which made him giggle and push on the man's chest.

"Mr. Koenma." Keiko called out. The room stopped and stared for a moment before turning to continue their socializing. Keiko was known for her yelling.

The man Yusuke learned was Mr. Koenma acknowledged her and placing an arm around his companion's waist, made his way over to them.

"Keiko." He nodded.

"Mr. Koenma, I would like you to meet Yusuke Urameshi. He's the one I told you about, the one who's writing on the death of Master Genkai." She said proudly. "Yusuke, this is Mr. Koenma and his date, um…"

"Kurama." The red head said softly, keeping his eyes shyly downcast.

"Kurama, yes, I keep forgetting, sorry." She said. "Oh, this is Koto, Yusuke's date." She gestured to the girl and Koto held up her glass with a smile.

Yusuke looked between Kurama and Koto. They acted like they were meeting for the first time. Even though Yusuke knew they worked for the same service and had to have met at some point before now.

"I was just getting ready to tell Yusuke all about you." Keiko said.

"Really." Koenma said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yusuke, Mr. Koenma has written four books in the time it has taken you to write the one." She said.

"So what do you write about?" Yusuke asked, though he could careless.

Keiko answered for him. "He writes romance, but not just any romance. He's broken society's rules and writes homosexual romance, you know guy with guy, girl with girl."

Yusuke almost choked on his beer. "Really now, well that's nice." He tried to cover, but could tell he was going to have his foot in his mouth any moment now.

"Sorry, Keiko, Mr. Urameshi, I see someone I need to talk to, excuse me." Koenma said and then whispered to his date, who nodded. After giving the red head a kiss on the cheek, he nodded to the others before walking off.

Kurama stood there a moment, nervous, but then took a seat to Yusuke's other side away from Koto. The bartender asked if he would like something, it was whispered and the raven haired barely heard the words. "Fruit juice please."

Koto watched as her date stared at the red head and was somewhat mad, but mostly jealous. Kurama was Mr. Karasu's prize toy and every time he showed up to something she was attending, he took all the attention.

"Yusuke." She said, getting him to turn back to her.

"Sorry, distracted there for a minute." He joked.

"I bet you were." She muttered.

"What." He said.

"I'm going to the ladies room, be back in a few." She stated, grabbing her bag and walking away.

Shrugging, he turned back to the red head. "Glad to see there's no permanent damage." He said.

"Excuse me." The red head said, looking up and blinking his large eyes.

Yusuke tapped his lip with a finger and recognition came to the green eyes.

"Oh hello, sorry I…" Kurama smiled and Yusuke's heart skipped a beat. Seeing the smile up close was like seeing the sunrise in the morning.

"It's okay, I get that a lot." He said, smiling back and taking the seat next to him. "So… come here often?" He asked.

"Oh….yes." Kurama said softly.

They were both nervous as each played with their drinks.

Kurama turned and looked around the room, his eyes landed on Koenma and Mr. Yomi. They were standing on the opposite end of the room, furthest away from the others. Koenma motioned for the red head to come over.

"Sorry, I have to go. Thank you for the company." Kurama said standing. He then began to walk to the other end of the room.

Yusuke followed the red head to where he was going and watched the exchange between the three. Koenma was talking and Yomi was nodding. Koenma then moved Kurama to stand next to the black haired and his eyes grew big at what he saw. Yomi was taking his hand and touching the red head, caressing his hair, his face, before slipping the hand to his waist and then cupping his rear.

"Yusuke, Yusuke…I can't take this anymore!" Koto said loudly.

Yusuke whipped his head to look at Koto, not even realizing she had returned.

"I'm out of here." She huffed and turned, heading for the door.

"Wait, what's wrong?" He said and went after her. He managed to grab an arm and turn her so he could talk face to face.

"That." She said, pointing to Kurama.

"Chill." He said. "I'm sorry, I've met him before so…" Yusuke tried to explain.

"I didn't know you swung that way." She said, her eyebrows rising.

"I don't." Yusuke spit out. "Look, let me get you back to where you need to be. I'm sorry, I'm not much for dates and gatherings, but please, let me take you back." He said.

She calmed and he offered her an arm. Hesitating, she accepted it and they walked out the door, he didn't even say goodbye to anyone.

There were cabs parked and he flagged one, he didn't care that it was not Jin and was kind of glad he didn't have to listen to the Irish man talk the whole way back.

Nothing was said as they pulled up to the curb outside the escort service.

"For what it's worth, thank you." He said, getting out and going around so he could open the door for her.

"Mr. Urameshi, if I may make a suggestion." She said, taking his offered hand.

"Okay." He said, shutting the door and motioning for the driver to wait.

"The next time you need a date, I suggest you look hard and get what you really want." She said and turned, disappearing behind the door.

Feeling like a jerk, he got in the cab and gave the address for home. The whole drive was spent thinking about the red head and why he would let someone touch him like that. By the time he keyed into his apartment, he was in need of a shower, a very long one.

End Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Two weeks had past since Yusuke attended the 'social' gathering and Keiko was still pissed at him. Not only did he not stay even an hour, she claimed, he also failed to talk to anyone and left without a word. He did his apology drill and told her something important had come up, but she didn't want to hear it and even accused him of just wanting to get in his date's shorts. He threw up his hands in defeat and hung up the phone, letting her believe what she wanted to. When Keiko got on her high horse there was no talking her down, so why waste the breath trying.

After hanging up the phone, he was feeling flustered, so he decided to go for a jog. Jogging was one of those things he enjoyed doing when he felt like he needed space, it also help clear his mind.

Exiting the apartment, he looked at his watch before heading in the direction of the park. He didn't have much time to spare, for he needed to get to the hospital. Kuwabara had told him to go down the back stairwell, to the basement and talk to a Dr. Touya. It seemed his buddy was buddies with the doc and they hung out occasionally. Yusuke couldn't thank his friend enough and decided to surprise him with a pair a tickets to the Megallica concert next month. He'd managed to get third row seats, after calling in a few favors.

Making it to the park's jogging path, he sat a pace and let his mind wonder. In the last two weeks, he'd gotten all the copies from the library read and made numerous notes on index cards. He had a computer to do all this, but he liked having the raw material in his hands, liked writing and laying things out, being able to pick them up and even pin them to a board so he could move them around. Keiko had seen his stack of note cards and clippings and told him he could have gotten all the information off the internet. But, well, call him old fashion, he like doing things different. He liked being able to take the papers with him, to the bar, the park, anywhere he wanted to work on them. Yeah, he could get himself a laptop, but what fun was that. Even while he was writing his first book, he would print off a finished chapter and then take it to a bar, where he would write all over it, making corrections or add and delete things.

Finishing a complete loop of the jog path, he headed home, stopping at the mailboxes where he noticed a white envelope sticking out of his. 'Imagine that.' He thought. 'Another one.' This would make number four in the past two weeks. The notes were always typed, always unsigned and always said the same thing. Taking it as a joke, he still found himself reading them because, who knew, maybe one would be different. Though he also found himself placing them in a file instead of throwing them away, not knowing why he felt like he should keep them. Maybe he would put a picture of one in his book and joke about how his life was threatened as he wrote it.

He showered and caught a bus going downtown. Thirty minutes later, he was walking into the hospital. Acting like he knew where he was going, he walked to the stairwell and headed down. Opening the door to the basement level, it was like he imaged it to be, it looked just like a TV show or movie morgue. It was cold, dimly lit and smelled of chemicals. The one hallway was bland grey and made of concrete blocks, there was no decorations of any kind hanging and no windows.

A set of metal double doors swung out to his left and a petite man with short blue dyed hair walked out. He was wearing a white lab coat and had his attention glued to a clip board.

"Excuse me." Yusuke said, walking closer.

"You're not supposed to be down here." The man said. His voice was calm, yet cold.

"Um…" Yusuke paused, the tone in the voice sending chills down his spine. "I'm a friend of Kuwabara's…Detective Kuwabara and…"

"Sorry, you must be Mr. Urameshi." The man's voice lightened as he held out his hand.

"Call me Yusuke. Are you Dr. Touya?" Yusuke asked, shaking the hand and relaxing.

Nodding the man said. "Sorry, but I have to watch who comes down here. We don't receive too many visitors, mostly the police and I know them."

"It's okay." Yusuke joked, wondering why anyone would come down here if they didn't need to.

"Well, Kuwabara said you were writing a book and wanted to talk to a coroner. Doing some research on what we do?" He asked and motioned for the raven haired to follow him.

"Sort of." Yusuke said, following. "I'm writing a book on the death of Master Genkai, a fiction one, but I still want to know what happened to her. I have a rough draft from the police files, but I thought if I talked to you, you could get me the actual notes."

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't the one who did the autopsy. I was just an intern at the time." Dr. Touya informed, opening a door to a small office at the end of the hall. "Have a seat." He added. Taking his seat behind a paper loaded desk.

"Thanks." Yusuke said, taking the offered seat. "Well, can I still get a copy of the records. Nothing classified mind you, just…well, anything."

Touya leaned back in his seat, saying. "I'll be honest with you. I was to assist on the autopsy, but for some reason when the time came. I was told I wasn't needed." He crossed his leg. "For some reason the new DA at the time only wanted Dr. Shigure to perform it and he was sworn to secrecy."

Yusuke let out a low whistle. "Do you think I could talk to this…Dr. Shigure? It's been almost ten years. Surely he could talk about it now." He asked.

"I'm sorry, about a year later Dr. Shigure died in a freak accident, he was found at the bottom of a ravine. The police found a suicide note, so it was labeled as such." Touya informed, closing his eyes in respect.

"Oh…sorry." Yusuke muttered, fidgeting in his chair.

Touya opened his eyes. "Well…" He said leaning forward in his chair and tapping on the computer. "That was a long time ago. Let's have a look on the computer here." Touya began typing and a few minutes later, said. "It seems the files on Master Genkai have been destroyed. That's weird." He typed some more. "They're gone. No trace of anything is left."

"Kuwabara got me copies a few weeks ago from the police department." Yusuke said.

"That was the police copies, the hospital keeps different ones, lab work, like toxically, organ results, blood samples, but according to my computer, the records and evidence were destroyed some years ago." Touya said. "Sorry, there's nothing more I can do."

"Thanks anyways, sorry to bother you." Yusuke said standing, they shook hands again.

"I guess Kuwabara doesn't deserve those tickets you got him." Touya joked.

"Nay, that's okay, he can keep them. He's done his fair share." Yusuke said.

"Good, because I already scheduled that day off." Touya smirked.

"Enjoy." Yusuke said and went to leave, but was stopped at the door.

"Oh, I do remember one thing." Touya said.

Yusuke paused.

"Dr. Shigure had a daughter, her name's Sasuga, last I heard, she was living on the outskirts of town, but that was years ago."

"Thanks." Yusuke said with a wave and closed the door behind him.

Taking the same stairwell back up, he opened the door to the main floor. Seeing a set of glass double doors to his right, he walked to them and exited the building. Hospitals always gave him the creeps and he was glad to be out of there.

Pausing outside the doors, to get his bearings, he realized he was in the hospital's garden, a place where patients could go to get out and breathe fresh air. He also realized there was no other exit to the outside. Turning to head back in, he did a double take as he saw Kurama. 'What's he doing here?' He wondered. Moving out of the way of other people wanting to go inside, Yusuke walked around to get a better view. He observed the young man, who was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a burnt orange, crop-jacket. He was sitting on a retaining wall near a water fountain, his white sneaker feet tapping the wall like a small child would. He looked sad, yet seemed to be trying to smile and laugh. Looking to the person he was talking to, Yusuke made out a woman, probably in her late forties, early fifties, with short brownish hair. She was sitting in a wheelchair, looking pale and wearing a hospital robe. She smiled and reached out a hand, taking one of his in hers.

Kurama laughed at something, shaking his head and rubbing an eye. He looked around the garden, still smiling. Yusuke ducked behind a tree as he saw the red head look his way. When he looked back, Kurama got a strange look on his face and stood, saying something to the woman. He moved behind her and began pushing her up the path to the doors.

Yusuke watched them enter the building and waited a moment before following. Looking in the door, he saw them round the corner and quickly headed in, stopping at the corner. Peeking around, he saw the red head walk out of a room. Looking to the information board on the wall across from him, he noted the main floor was for long term care residents. Looking back around the corner, he watched Kurama head in the opposite direction. Straightening his jacket, Yusuke turned the corner and paused at the door the red head had walked out of. The name Minamino, Shori was on the name plague. 'Where have I seen that name before?' He wondered. He had seen the name Minamino before, but couldn't remember where.

"You will not disturb her." A deep voice said.

Yusuke looked behind him and found himself face to face with Kurama. The raven haired took a step back in surprise at being caught and noticed the normally bright green eyes were narrow in anger.

"Hey, I wasn't going to do anything." Yusuke tried to explain and held his hands up in surrender.

"I don't know what you are after, put you will not involve my mother." The voice was cold and threatening.

"Chill, I saw you here and I was curious, that's all." Yusuke said, still holding his arms in the air. The people walking around were looking at them strangely.

Kurama cocked his head and Yusuke wondered if the red head was going to believe him or clobber him. He was ready to just walk away, when Kurama's hand went to his head and his other one went to the wall.

"Hey, you alright?" Yusuke asked, moving to support the red head as green eyes closed and fingers pinched his nose.

Brushing the raven haired off, Kurama looked to the ceiling and blinked his eyes a few times. "Just a headache." He said.

"Shuiichi." Someone called out. Yusuke saw a man with short, almost black curly hair, in a doctor's coat walking towards them.

"Yes, Dr. Kaitou." Kurama said, composing himself with his back against the wall.

Yusuke stepped back as the doctor came near.

"I have the latest test results, I would like to go over them with you, say tomorrow around ten." The doctor said, using a finger to push his glasses up.

"That would be fine." Kurama said and pushed off the wall.

"Shuiichi, have you stopped eating again?" Dr. Kaitou asked concern on his face. "You know your mother would be upset if she found out you weren't taking care of yourself, she needs your strength."

"Yes doctor, I've just had a lot on my mind lately." Kurama said softly, nodding his head.

"I'll see you tomorrow then." The doctor said. He acted like he wanted to say more, but walked off.

"Stay away from her." The red head said to Yusuke, he then turned and began to walk away.

"Wait." Yusuke didn't know why he called out. So when the red head turned back, he said the first thing that came to mind. "Have you had lunch yet?"

a)a)a)a

The two placed their trays and took their seats at a table in the hospital's cafeteria. Yusuke wasn't surprised when the red head said 'no' to eating, but was when he said 'yes' to joining him.

Yusuke was trying to control his nerves. He didn't know what to say and didn't want to offend the red head by saying something wrong. So he picked up one of two slices of pizza he'd gotten and began eating, thinking if his mouth was full of food, it would not be able to hold his foot.

Chewing, he watched Kurama take the lid off his plain garden salad and add some sort of vinaigrette dressing. The red head then shook his bottle of juice, before breaking the seal and taking a sip. He finally picked up his fork, but then laid it down, saying.

"I find it rather odd since we first met in the alley that I have run into you three more times in the past several weeks." He said it calmly, picking his fork back up and taking a 'small' bite. Swallowing, he added. "Do you believe in coincidences, Mr. Urameshi?

"What do you mean?" Yusuke asked, taking a drink of his soda.

"First you, as you would probably say, 'rescued me' in the alley, next, I see you in a cab outside the place I work. Then you are escorting the lovely Koto to a gathering I was attending and lastly, I see you here, at the hospital, standing outside my mother's room." Kurama spoke so calmly, it was like this was an everyday conversation.

"Hey, I was invited to that 'gathering' and Keiko was the one who gave me the card, saying I needed a 'date'. I had no idea you…you know…worked as an escort." Yusuke said defensively and didn't know why he was being so.

"I see." Kurama said his voice still calm as he picked at the salad. Looking at the raven haired, he added. "And what brings you here…visiting someone."

"If you really must know, I was here to see the coroner." Yusuke said harshly, still on the defensive.

Eyebrows raised as the red head's green eyes went wide. "I'm sorry." He said softly, lowering his head.

"What…" Yusuke said confused, but then it dawned on him what the red head thought. "No…oh…no…it wasn't that. I just needed some information and you see, the reason I was at the gathering, was because I'm an author and I'm starting a new book. I had a friend get me in to see Dr. Touya so I could ask him some questions." He smiled as he watched relief wash over the pale face.

"Well, that explains some." Kurama said, smiling softly.

"Yeah well, like I said, Keiko was the one who strongly suggested I bring a date." Yusuke said, trying to joke and scratching his neck.

"Did you not enjoy Koto's company?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, but she's…she's not my type." Yusuke admitted, reaching again for his soda.

"So what is your type, Mr. Urameshi?"

Seeing a little mischief in the green eyes, Yusuke choked on his drink, coughing, he grabbed a napkin to clean up what he'd spit out.

"Uh…(cough)…I don't…I'm not…(cough)...you know." The raven haired sputtered out, straitening in the chair and trying to compose himself.

"Gay." Kurama smirked, placing a napkin to his lips. Yusuke could see he was trying to hold back a laugh.

"Yeah." Yusuke said, giving a lopsided smile. Thinking back to the gathering and seeing the images of Koenma and then Yomi touching the red head, he wondered. "How could you let them do that to you?" He thought he was thinking, but seeing the look on Kurama's face, he realized he'd said it out loud.

Grabbing his tray, Kurama stood and narrowing his eyes to the raven haired, causing said raven haired to gulp, he said. "Why would you care, you know nothing about me." He walked off, leaving Yusuke with his mouth hanging open. He cursed himself, thinking, 'okay, open mouth and insert foot.'

End Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next morning, Yusuke slept in, deciding to skip his morning jog and enjoy the comfort of being lazy. The phone never rang, which was a surprise, as Keiko usually called, but luck was on his side this morning. Around 11, he finally broke and took a shower. After a late breakfast, he gathered his papers and headed to the park.

Walking the path to a table, his mind was still trying to figure out where he'd seen the name Minamino before. It had bothered him all evening after the red head had walked away during lunch. Shrugging it off for the time being he found a spot and spread his papers. Grabbing the envelope that contained the police reports, he spread the sheets out. Sorting them, he began reading what was not marked out. Picking up the suspect list, the name Minamino was staring him right in the face. Right there in black and white was the name Shuiichi Minamino, just under Hiei's. 'Wait a minute.' He thought, reading each name slowly and filtering it through his mind. The names Sensui, Natsume, Shishi and Itsuki, were also on the list. 'These are the names I saw in the book at the escort service?' Their last names didn't register and in the case of Hiei, a few didn't even have a last name listed. If these were all former students of Genkai's, how did they end up working for Karasu? He was so lost in thought and confusion that he didn't see a shadow move along his left side.

"Well, I guess you could now accuse me of following you." A soft voice said.

Slamming the paper face down on the table, Yusuke's head whipped around. Chocolate eyes looked up to meet green ones.

"Oh hey, I didn't see you standing there." Yusuke said, relaxing some as he gathered the papers.

"You obviously were lost in thought…doing research for your book?" Kurama asked with interest.

"Yeah, just doing some reading." Yusuke answered, placing the stack of papers off to the side.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, excuse me." Kurama said and went to leave, but Yusuke stopped him.

"That's okay…it's nothing. I can do it later. Um…so how did it go at the doctor's?" Yusuke asked then thought maybe he shouldn't have as the red head turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you care?" Kurama asked softly.

"Look, I'll admit, since that night in the alley…I've been…thinking about you." Yusuke said shrugging.

Again Kurama raised an eyebrow, but turned so he was facing the raven haired. "Really." He smirked.

"Not like that." Yusuke's anger showed. He wasn't going to admit to the red head that he dreamed of a female version of him on occasion.

"Sorry, just teasing you. I know you're not…" Kurama started, but Yusuke finished.

"Gay." The raven haired smiled.

Nodding, but smiling, Kurama just stood there.

"Have a seat. I hope you didn't get bad news this morning." Yusuke said, motioning for the lean figure to take a seat across from him.

"The same, though I guess that could be considered good news." Kurama said, taking the seat and placing his hands on the table where he began playing with his nails.

Yusuke couldn't help but look at those long lean fingers. They looked soft, delicate, just like a woman's. He wondered what those fingers were capable of, were they soft to the touch, did they touch things softly. Were they like his voice and teased while they were caressing.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this." He heard, snapping him out of his thoughts. He nodded and tried to cover because he hadn't heard a word.

"Because it's nice to have an outside opinion." He said with a soft smile.

"I suppose your right." Kurama said and returned the smile, it was soft, shy.

"Is your mother going to be okay?" The raven hair asked, showing true concern.

"It's hard to tell, she's been sick for so long and they can't seem to figure out what's causing it." Kurama replied and lowered his head, if Yusuke didn't know better, he would have sworn the red head was about to cry.

"Want to grab some lunch?" Yusuke asked.

"Sure." Kurama's smile was so 'true', Yusuke just about melted. "I guess I owe you for walking out on you yesterday."

"It's okay. I didn't have the right to…" Kurama cut him off.

"No, you said you were not into same sex relationships, so of course you wouldn't understand. I should have realized…" Yusuke cut him off.

"No, you're right and wrong, I've never judged the way someone lives and I don't want to start. Everyone has their own life and I'm sure as hell not perfect." He admitted jokingly. "And I'm sorry." His voice turned serious.

"Accepted." Kurama nodded. "So where would you like to go?"

Seeing the mischief back in the eyes, Yusuke gulped. "Go."

"Lunch, you invited me to lunch." Kurama's face turned serious.

"Oh…yeah. Um…what are you in the mood for?" Yusuke asked, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Chinese." Kurama said.

"Chinese it is then." Yusuke said and began to shove stuff in his bag. Shouldering it, he asked. "Have you been to Chen's at the corner?"

"Yes, many times." Kurama answered as the two headed out of the park.

Yusuke wondered why he hadn't seen the red head there before, but realized he always did takeout and would usually run in without really paying attention to anyone else.

The lunch was eaten with casual conversation. No real topic was discussed as they bounced back and forth about books, movies, music, even politics. Yusuke learned the red head was quite intelligent and seemed to know a lot about many things.

Walking back to the park, they took a seat on a bench under the Sakura trees. They remained quiet after sitting, each just taking in the view and enjoying the fresh air.

"Thank you." Kurama finally said softly, turning to look at the raven haired.

"For what?" Yusuke wondered, returning the look.

"I haven't been able to just…relax and talk…or a long time." Kurama admitted, he was still speaking softly.

"You're welcome." And Yusuke truly meant it.

Kurama casually touched Yusuke's hand. It was done slowly and so carefully, the raven haired didn't even really notice until the hand gripped his in a comfortingly manner.

Yusuke tried to not let his instincts kick in, mainly the one telling him to pull his hand away.

He was so focused with the hand on his, that he didn't see the look wash over the red head's face. The hand holding his squeezed harder and Yusuke looked up as the pressure started to hurt.

"Um, you can…" He began to say, but now seeing the look on Kurama's face, he turned his head instead and followed the gaze.

Leaning against a car, in a pull off dirt area joggers used to get to the path, stood Bui. He couldn't read the man's expression, but he could tell by the hand still squeezing his that it wasn't good.

"I need to go, thank you again for the company." Kurama whispered standing. He began to make his way towards the car.

Yusuke watched as Bui said something to the red head as he reached the car. Kurama just nodded and got in the back as the door was opened for him. Bui looked his way as he got behind the wheel, the car soon backed out and slowly drove away.

a)a)a)a

Pacing his apartment, Yusuke kept running a hand through his hair in frustration. "Damn, damn…damn it." He muttered at first, but got louder. "What in the world is wrong with me?" He said aloud and punched the wall with a fist. He then cursed again as his hand throbbed. Rubbing the hand, he remembered the light touch of the red head's on it. It was soft, delicate, just like he imagined.

What was it about the red head that affected him this way? Why did he care about someone that worked as an escort of all things, wasn't that the same thing as a prostitute, a whore. He also was 'not gay.' He had never had a physical attraction to other men. 'Yes' he considered some men handsome, but wasn't that the same as a woman calling another woman 'pretty.' But, then there was his lack of a romantic life. He couldn't seem to find the right woman. There was something lacking in the ones he's dated. He had never wanted to continue with any of them, but he wanted to continue with the red head, wanted to spend more time with him. Sure he enjoyed spending time with Kuwabara, but he never thought about him as anything more than just a friend. Could he honestly get involved with another man? With so much running through his mind he felt trapped. He didn't care what society thought, but his own conscious was another manner.

Grapping his jacket, the raven haired exited the apartment and started walking. Shoving his hands in his pocket and keeping his head down, he soon found himself outside the Dragon's Den. The place had just opened and he thanked his timing. Slipping into a seat at the farthest table, he saw Hiei come out of the backroom.

"You're usually not the first customer of the night." The short black haired said, going over behind the bar and opening a bottle of beer. Bringing it over, he noticed his customer rubbing their knuckles.

Catching the look, Yusuke said. "Sorry, wall pissed me off." He joked.

Raising an eyebrow, Hiei went to walk away.

"Hey Hiei." He said, stopping the man. "Can I ask you a question?"

Hiei turned and crossed his arms. Taking that as a 'yes', Yusuke asked. "Do you know a Shuiichi Minamino?"

"Should I." Hiei said, keeping his arms crossed, but Yusuke could see his posture straighten.

"I know you took martial art lesson from Master Genkai and so did Shuiichi, I've met him and…let's just say…I'm worried about him." Yusuke whispered, looking down at the table and finally admitting to himself that he had feelings for the red head.

Hiei slid into the chair across from him. "What happened?" He asked.

"Nothing…" Yusuke said, looking up. "Nothing, just… I've met him on several occasions and I see the sadness in his eyes, he looks so lost and I know his mother's sick…then the look he gave Bui." He started rambling.

"What…wait a minute, Bui, what about Bui." Hiei wanted to know, leaning forward. "Start from the beginning…how do you know about Bui?"

Yusuke rambled off everything from the ally to the park. Hiei kept nodding his head as he took in every detail, only stopping him a couple of times to ask a question.

"I'm really worried about him for some reason…I don't know why." Yusuke admitted, after he had finished his tale.

"He has that affect on people." Hiei muttered.

"Then you know him." Yusuke's eyes widened. "He looks about our age, but I don't remember seeing him in…"

Hiei only nodded then said. "That's because he was home schooled. His mother was sick even back then and he had a tutor so he could stay home and help. His father died when he was just a child."

Feeling even sorrier for the red head, Yusuke wondered. "Does he come here?"

"Usually about an hour before closing, you never stay that long." Hiei answered. "He never comes alone." He added.

Yusuke nodded, understanding what he meant. Grabbing a napkin, he pulled a pen from his jacket and wrote down his cell number. "Call me, the next time he comes in, call me, I don't care how late or who he's with…please." He pleaded, handing the napkin to the bar owner.

Hiei nodded, taking the paper.

"Please promise me. I'm really worried about him." Yusuke was to the point of getting on his knees.

"I will. You're not the only one who worries about him." Hiei admitted getting up. He went to his place behind the bar as more customers filtered in

End Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Karasu looked up as the door to his office opened, Kurama walked in, closely followed by Bui.

"Thank you Bui." He said, getting up from his chair and approaching the red head.

Kurama just stood there, his face void of expression.

"What, no 'What do you want?' coming from those pretty lips." Karasu said, walking around the lean figure, studying him before running a hand down his back and then cupping his rear. "Where is that fire I'm so use to seeing in you." Karasu whispered in the red head's ear, still groping. "Maybe you're saving it for your new friend, is that it."

"I'm sorry, I'll stay away, just leave him alone. He doesn't know anything." Kurama said calmly, yet he was cringing on the inside.

"Really, are you sure about that?" Karasu asked, walking around to face him.

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked back, looking him dead in the face, his eyes narrowing.

"There's the fire." Karasu mused then answered. "Yes, well, it seems your new friend is an author and starting a new book…so I've heard." He said this while playing with a lock of red hair.

"So, isn't that what authors do." Kurama smirked, turning his head slightly to get the fingers away from him.

Karasu moved his fingers to the red head's shirt, toying with the buttons and getting a few undone. He slipped his hand inside, rubbing the pale skin.

Kurama stood still, he hated this, but it was best to play along, it would be over sooner that way.

Karasu brushed the red head's lips with his tongue. "Funny." He whispered. "But what would he think of you if he found out your little secret." A hand moved up to cup the back of the red head's neck, holding it firmly.

"I don't under…" Kurama winced as the hand on his neck tightened and the one on his chest pushed, causing his breath to hitch from the force.

"Mr. Urameshi is writing a book on the death of Master Genkai. A fiction one, so I was told, but he already has a copy of the police reports, he even tried to get a copy of the hospital records." Karasu informed and watched the color drain from the already pale face. "Yes, now do you understand?"

Kurama tried to nod and Karasu smiled. "Good boy. I've taken good care of you now haven't I? You wouldn't want to ruin everything I've done for you, would you. I've provided you housing, which I have to remind you, I've had to pay extra over the past several months."

Kurama knew Karasu was referring to the fact that he had been forced to move three times over the past six months. It wasn't his fault he acquired a stalker and then Karasu was left paying lease termination fees and high deposits.

"And we can't forget about dear old mom." Karasu said, finally letting go and stepping back. "I have paid for the best care possible. You wouldn't want her to be placed out on the street." Seeing the look in the green eyes, he smiled. "I didn't think so."

"I'll stay away…I swear." Kurama pleaded, lowering his head in compliance.

"That's good, but I will tell you, if he digs any further. He will have to be dealt with." Karasu said.

Kurama's head came back up, his eyes wide.

"Seems he doesn't take threats seriously." Karasu smirked, playing with the red hair some more, twirling it around a finger.

"You've threatened him." Kurama whispered.

Karasu mused, still toying with a red lock. "Yes, just a few notes telling him to back off, but he's either brave, or stupid, whichever it is makes no difference." He looked to Bui who had been standing by the door. "Make sure we're not disturbed Bui, I need sometime to remind Kurama, or who I like to call Mr. Vixen, just what makes him worth the money."

Bui gave a curt nod and left.

"Shall we begin?" Karasu said removing his coat and laying it across the desk.

Kurama tried to control the trembling of his body. He lost though as a fist backhanded him across the face.

"I hate damaging that beautiful face, but you need a more personal lesson this time." Karasu growled grabbing a hand full of red hair, pulling the boy back and then slamming him in the lower chest with a knee.

Kurama coughed and bent over holding his ribs. His knees began to buckle, but they never touched the floor as Karasu grabbed his hair again and pushed him hard against the table. Forcing Kurama's head into the glass, he took his other hand and fumbled with the red head's pants, getting them undone and pulled part way down. Moving to undo his own pants, Karasu said. "You're lucky I'm willing to take my paybacks in other ways. Now be a good boy and scream for me. I do enjoy hearing your voice."

Kurama bit his bottom lip, he wasn't going to scream, he wasn't going to give this sadistic bastard the pleasure. Feeling the pressure and realizing he was not going to be properly prepared, he bit hard, drawing blood. Trying to blink back tears and failing, the pressure became too much and he screamed. He barely heard Karasu's laughter.

a)a)a)a

_(A ring tone playing)_

_The red hair was fanned out across the pillow. He could actually put a voice to the person now. It was soft, teasing…..even as it gasped with pleasure._

_(Still playing)_

Yusuke looked up from his stomach at the clock, almost 2 am. 'What the…?' Realizing it was his cell phone, he grabbed it off the nightstand, not even looking at the caller ID.

"Yusuke." He said, sitting up.

"He's here." A deep voice said on the other end.

Rubbing a hand across his face, Yusuke said. "Hiei." And blinked sleep from his eyes, his mind not quite awake.

"You need to get over here." The voice held a hint of concern.

Looking at the clock again, Yusuke stated. "But you close at one." He said and tried to suppress a yawn, but failed.

He heard. "Idiot, just get your ass over here." The phone went dead.

Putting on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, he threw his phone along with his keys in a pocket and headed to the bar. Jogging, he made it in a few minutes. Peering through the door, he could see the lights were out and the flood/emergency lights showed the chairs had been put up on the tables as well as the barstools on the bar.

He was just about to try the door, when he saw a shadow move from behind the bar, Hiei came around and opened the door.

"He's upstairs." He said as he locked the door behind the raven haired.

Yusuke just nodded and noticed an ice pack in the black haired's hand.

"Is he okay?" He asked as he followed the shorter figure to the back and to an unmarked door.

"I've seen worse." Hiei said softly, opening the door.

Yusuke always thought the door led to a backroom, like an office or storage area, but what he saw was a stairwell. Hiei was halfway up the stairs as he started skipping every other one to catch up.

Opening another unmarked door, Yusuke realized he was stepping into an apartment. Made sense now, why wouldn't Hiei just live above the bar, it made it easier in ways.

Taking in the décor, he saw numerous weapons. Several katana swords, daggers and scythes took up the wall between posters of Bruce Lee, his son Brandon and Jet Li, also several posters that looked like advertising for martial art competitions. A large bookcase took up one wall, filled with books, trophies, ribbons and more weapons. Along the floor in various places sat trophies as big as Hiei. The walls were painted a dark gray, the furniture was all black leather and the floors were hardwood. Looking to the back of the couch, he saw red hair spilling over the arm rest. Hiei walked around and squatted down.

"Here, I got you some ice…easy, move your arm, there…" Hiei said softly, sitting back on a glass coffee table. Yusuke watched a solemn look wash over his face.

Coming around, the raven haired took in the figure laying stretched out. Kurama's head was turned away from them, facing the back of the couch and tucked in an arm that was folded behind his head. The ice bag was resting in the crook of the arm against his face. One leg was straight, the other bent at the knee leaning against the couch and his other arm was laying across his waist.

"Kurama." He said softy. One green eye opened, blinking before the head turned to look at him.

The red head sat bolt upright, wincing, the arm across his waist tightened along his ribs. "What are you doing here?" He managed to hiss out.

Yusuke saw his other eye was swollen shut and his lip was busted, he also had blood trailing along his hairline.

"I called him, now lay down." Hiei stated firmly, he was none to graceful as he pushed on the red head's shoulder, trying to get him back on the couch.

"I trusted you Hiei." Kurama growled through clenched teeth, fighting the hand pushing.

"And you always can." Hiei whispered and forced a little harder until the red head collapsed with a sigh. He placed his arm back behind his head as the black haired placed the ice pack back. "You need help, you can't deny that anymore."

Barely a murmur, the red head said. "I don't need his help. You don't understand."

"Would someone tell me what in the hell happened?" Yusuke asked, raising his voice to get their attention.

Kurama and Hiei shared a look, which didn't go unnoticed by the raven haired.

"Hello." He said, waving a hand. "I'm the one who said that."

Kurama tried to shrug as Hiei looked to Yusuke. "Karasu." Was all he said before walking over to a small kitchen area in the corner.

"What the hell does that mean?" Yusuke growled, throwing his hands up in annoyance.

Hiei opened a small frig and took out some juice, he then turned his back to the room and got out a glass. Coming back over, he motioned the red head to lean up.

"It seems Karasu is not too happy with Kurama hanging out with you." Hiei said, helping the red head drink. "Easy…slow." He assured the red head as he helped support his head.

"What! Are you saying Karasu did this to him because of me?" Yusuke calked, he was beyond shocked. Running a hand through his hair, he began to pace.

"He has a right to know, from what you've told me, it's too late." Hiei said softly to Kurama.

Yusuke turned to see Hiei, again, looking at Kurama. The red head nodded and went to get up, saying. "Fine, if he gets killed, it can be on your head."

"Where are you going?" Yusuke asked as the red head stood with Hiei's help.

"I need a shower." Kurama said to no one in particular. Pushing away from Hiei, he slowly walked, or actually it was limped towards a small hallway across the room.

The red head managed to make it to the archway before pausing and placing a hand for support.

"You're bleeding." Yusuke heard and watched the red head place his forehead on the frame. Kurama closed his eyes, but then nodded and did an 'okay come on' motion with his head.

'Bleeding, hell yeah he's bleeding, from the lip, the cut on his head.' Yusuke was thinking all this, wondering why Hiei had spit that out. His eyes had been following the red head as he walked across the room, okay limped, but what did that have to do with where he was bleeding, unless he had a cut on the leg or something. He stared at the red head in confusion as he leaned against the door frame, his eyes still closed, waiting. 'What's going on?' It was like the two could talk telepathically or something.

"Stay here, don't leave. I'll be back after I help him get settled." The black haired said and walked over to Kurama. With a little persuasion, he managed to get an arm over his shoulder so he could support the taller figure. Yusuke noticed Kurama was limping more and he looked to his legs where he saw patches of something dark and wet on the backside of his pants, it wasn't a lot, just blotches here and there on the seat and inner thigh area. He realized what Hiei meant, he didn't know how he knew, it just dawned…

Yusuke flopped hard on the couch and started taking deep breaths in hopes of not throwing up. His efforts failed and he barely made it to the sink in time as his stomach retaliated. He heard the shower turn off as he washed his face, pausing he continued to take deep breaths. It was mostly bile that came up, but he hated the dry heaving worse. Running wet hands through his hair, he turned off the water and went to the archway leading down the hall. A door opened and he watched as Hiei, still supporting Kurama, maneuver the tight space to another door, a bedroom most likely. Kurama's hair was dripping droplets along the path to the door and he had towel wrapped around his waist. Hiei was shirtless, but still had on his pants, they too, were soaked and leaving a trail. The black haired used his foot to shut the door behind them.

Quiet whispering could be heard, followed by a few hisses. What seemed like forever, Hiei finally came out, closing the door behind him. He was wearing a fresh pair of pants and slipping a tank top over his head. Seeing Yusuke in the archway, he said. "I'm going to give him something for the pain and to help him rest then we'll talk."

Hiei grabbed the glass off the coffee table and headed to the kitchen. He poured more juice then reached into a cabinet. Pulling out a bottle, he shook out a couple of aspirin. Reaching back in the cabinet, he then pulled out a small packet, which he opened and poured the contents in the juice. He was swirling the glass as he came back around to the bedroom door. He knocked softly before opening it and walking in, leaving the door open.

Yusuke had not moved from his spot, but when the door was left opened, he found himself walking towards it, feeling like he was being pulled by an invisible string.

Kurama lay in the middle of a double bed. He was on his left side with his back facing the door. Hiei was sitting on the edge of the bed near the far wall helping Kurama drink the juice. The red head was still naked, but had a towel laying across his waist and a rolled towel was between his knees. Yusuke could not register what he was seeing, dark bruises covered the red head's lower back, at least to the towel, but he could tell they went further down. The more he looked, the more he realized they were in the shape of hand prints. Red scratches trailed down his back, some overlapping the bruises. Kurama tried to straighten his legs some but froze and Hiei placed a hand on the covered hip, assuring him with a light pat, saying. "I'll wrap your ribs when you can sit up better, I don't want to risk the chances of pneumonia." Kurama's head nodded in understanding. The raven haired was caught by surprise when Hiei kissed the red head on the forehead before standing and walking toward him.

Stepping back as Hiei closed the door behind him, Yusuke asked. "What happened to him?"

Taking a deep breath, Hiei looked him right in the eyes. "He was raped."

Yusuke didn't remember anything after hearing those words.

End Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Two days blurred by with Yusuke not knowing when one began and one ended since he, according to Hiei, fainted and he'd found him self sitting against the wall in the hallway. Hiei had not tried to stop him, only making sure he didn't hit his head on the way down. When he'd come too, a few minutes later, a glass had been shoved in his face. Drinking the liquid, he felt the burn on the way down, but then a warm tingling followed. Later when he was given another glass, he realized it was brandy and he didn't hesitate drinking it. It had felt good to be numb.

Now another morning dawned and Yusuke found himself still on the couch as Hiei walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him. The raven haired had been sleeping on the couch, well sort of sleeping, he was restless and kept getting up to pace until he was exhausted then would sleep for a few hours before repeating. The black haired had been staying in the bedroom at night making Yusuke wondered if Hiei was sleeping and if he was, was it in bed with Kurama, but then he would call himself an idiot. What did it matter? The only 'thing' that mattered was Kurama was being tended to. Something he found himself not able to do.

Hiei had not asked him to leave so Yusuke would find himself staring at the bedroom door during the day as the black haired came and went, running errands like, going to the store or running down and checking to make sure things were going smoothly with the bar when it was open. He only remembered to eat when something was shoved in his face and afterwards, he couldn't even tell you what it was he ate. Hiei had also not said a word about him avoiding the bedroom, the closest he would get was the bathroom and even then, he would find himself hurrying to get back to the couch.

"I need to go and get some more ointment and some Epsom salt, I shouldn't be long." Hiei said, grabbing keys off the coffee table.

"Okay." Yusuke always said when the black haired told him he was leaving.

"Yusuke, you need to snap out of it. I'm having a hard enough time taking care of him, I can't…" Hiei stopped as Yusuke turned blood shot eyes towards him.

"I didn't ask you to look after me. I'm just having a hard time accepting this." He said, looking back to the door, he added. "How can something like that happen, it doesn't make sense to me."

"What, you think a man can't be raped." Hiei smirked.

"Damn it Hiei, I'm not that stupid." Yusuke growled and in a blink of an eye he was standing over the smaller figure, looking down at him, glaring and flaring his nostrils.

"Well…that got your ass off the couch." The smaller figure said, not the least bit intimidated.

Yusuke took a step back, relaxing. "Sorry, I just can't believe this happened because of me." He said, lowering his head.

"You need to talk to him, you can't keep avoiding it."

"But he acted like he didn't want me here."

"He's confused, but it's up to you, if you want to leave, don't, at least not until I get back." Hiei said.

"Why?" Yusuke followed him, lost in his own confusion.

Hiei had walked to the kitchen, turning, he said. "He's starting to stay awake longer. I've been cutting back on the sleeping powder."

Yusuke just blinked at him.

"He might cry out while I'm gone. He gets scared when he's hurt and wakes up alone." The black haired walked to a backdoor off the kitchen. "I won't be long." With that, he left.

Standing there, Yusuke thought. 'And just what do you expect me to do.' Going back and slumping on the couch, he again stared at the door, hoping Kurama was asleep and stayed asleep. He prayed Hiei wouldn't be gone to long. It's not that he was scared of the bedroom, it was just, he didn't want to look at Kurama, see his injuries and know that he was the reason they were there. He didn't want to have the see the hurt and the 'why' in those big green eyes. Guilt was such a heavy burden.

'What was that?' Hiei had been gone forever it seemed. Feeling that invisible string, Yusuke stood and walked slowly to the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. 'Was Kurama crying?' His hand slowly turned the knob and he pushed it just enough to stick his head in. Kurama was still on his side facing away from the door. Yusuke could see the pale shoulders shaking. Quietly walking around the bed, he stopped in his tracks at the sight of those green eyes wet and puffy with tears, staring at the wall. The red head was hugging a pillow, well death gripping, would be a better term. The raven haired just stood there not knowing what to do. Thinking he should back out and give some privacy, he stopped when he heard.

"I'm alright."

Feeling a little embarrassed, Yusuke nodded. "Sorry, I heard you…"

"It's okay. I take it Hiei's out." Kurama said, trying not to hiss as he moved slowly, holding his ribs, until he was leaning against the headboard. He then pulled on the sheet, managing to cover himself. It hadn't even dawned on Yusuke that the red head was still naked.

"Yeah…um…he went to get some stuff, I'm sure he'll be back any minute." Yusuke said standing there, trying not to look nervous.

"I didn't expect you to still be here." Kurama said, rubbing his eyes and shifting some, trying to get comfortable.

Yusuke could see the swelling around his eye had gone down, that it was at that sickly yellow/brownish stage and he was able to open it half way, his lip was also down. "Hiei hasn't kicked me out yet, so I thought I would hang around." He said carefully sitting on the edge of the bed.

"You have nothing to feel guilty about." The red head said, toying with the sheet.

"I…" Yusuke didn't know what to say. Yes, he felt guilty, why try to deny it.

"You should leave." Kurama said, still not looking at the raven haired.

"What did Hiei mean when he said I had a right to know and that it was too late?" Yusuke decided to ask. That statement had been on the back of his mind the past two days. Now that he was in the room, he might as well ask.

"You are writing a book on the death of Master Genkai correct." Kurama said, finally looking at him.

"How…?" Yusuke breathed and leaned back, somewhat surprised.

"You also have a copy of the police report, which no doubt contained a suspect list. I'm I correct?" Kurama asked his voice was calm.

"Yeah." Yusuke said with a whisper and then said. "You and Hiei are on the list, along with some others from the escort service."

"They were also at one time, students at the temple." Kurama said.

"I knew that to." Yusuke admitted. "How do you know all this?"

"Karasu." Kurama said softly, looking down.

"What's he got to do with the temple?" Yusuke asked, his mind still trying to process the information.

"Karasu was there that night." Kurama said still looking down.

"You know who killed Genkai?" Yusuke whispered, his eyes widening.

Kurama lowered his head further, tears starting to form. Seeing this, Yusuke placed a hand on the side of the red head's face. "And now because I've met you, he did this?" He said in sorrow, cupping the face softly and using his thumb to lightly brush the cheek below the bruised eye.

Kurama nodded and closing his eyes, leaned into the touch.

"The bastard, he's the one that did it, isn't he." Yusuke whispered. This being in front of him was hurt because he had had a brilliant idea to write a stupid book on an unsolved murder.

Kurama sighed. Opening his eyes, he moved his head to the side, saying softly. "Not exactly."

Not really hearing Kurama, Yusuke blundered out. "I can stop. I can tell Keiko I've changed my mind." He said seriously, but then joked. "She'll be pissed, but it wouldn't be the first time and I can guarantee it won't be the last."

"It's too late, Karasu sees you as a threat." Kurama said softly, his eyes downcast.

"So he's the one sending the threatening letters." Yusuke smirked.

"Yes, he said you were either brave or stupid for not taking them seriously." Kurama said, looking up.

"Pssst….please…a few simple letters telling me to back off. You'd think he would have bigger balls than that." Yusuke smirked, laughing it off.

Kurama fingered the sheet again. "You don't understand. Her death was an accident, but Karasu will do anything to keep it from being solved."

"If it was an accident, you should go to the police. I have a friend, he's a detective." Yusuke began to ramble. "He can get you into protective custody. Keep you away from that bastard. You can't keep living like this. Forcing you to do things you…"

"It's a lot more complicated than that." Kurama said, stopping him.

"Your mother." Yusuke said, somehow he just knew that was the only reason why the red head would be reluctant to tell.

Kurama nodded. "But." He took a deep ragged breath. "You're right…I can't keep hiding anymore. I will no longer see the one's I care about get hurt."

"I care for you too." Yusuke quirked.

"Are you sure you want to pursue this, you have no idea what you're getting into." Kurama said and leaned forward so he could place his hand on the raven haired's cheek, returning the gesture.

"All I know is that I care for you and I will stand by you, no matter what." Yusuke muttered, leaning into the hand. "Don't ask me why…hell, I don't even know, but I'm willing to give the other thing a shot too…just don't expect too much at first and don't push me, I'm still somewhat of a virgin." He admitted, cocking a smile at the last part.

"Thank you for standing by me. I won't expect anything and I promise I won't push." Kurama said, leaning into him. "Too hard." He breathed next to an ear.

Feeling shivers run down his back, Yusuke sat back. "Okay…." He said, clapping his hands. "I'm sure everything will work out, you'll see." He dug out his cell phone and called Kuwabara.

Kurama leaned back, trying to control a chuckle. He could tell the young man was 'bothered' by what he'd just done.

Hanging up, Yusuke said. "He says he'll be here within the hour."

They sat there in silence until Yusuke suggested Kurama get dressed. He helped the red head into a pair of loose sweats and a baggy t-shirt and then helped get him settled back on the bed. The raven haired had barely looked at the red head's body, but what he did see gave him some relief. The bruises were all at that yellow/brownish stage and the scratches were just little pink lines.

After some more silence, Yusuke could tell Kurama was trying not to fidget and fearing the red head might change his mind or something, he asked. "So, how did you meet Hiei?" Not only was it an attempt to keep the red head calm and eat up time, it was also to keep his own mind off the 'thoughts' running through his head. Even outside of seeing the red head naked, he admitted to himself that he'd been checking the lean toned body out since the first time they'd met. No 'woman' had ever sent shiver down his spine like that. Kicking such thoughts out of his head, he thought, 'damn it, blockhead could walk in on something that could embarrass us all.'

Blinking at the raven haired, Kurama looked like he wasn't going to say anything, but then said. "We met at Genkai's temple, as you know, we were both students."

Yusuke grabbed a hand. He squeezed it and gave a nod to continue.

Looking to the sheet, Kurama sighed, but continued. "I was about nine when my mother decided I needed to make friends. I was home schooled because of her illness and my father died when I was five. Since I didn't get out much, mother thought it would be a good idea for me to have a place to let out my frustrations, so she signed me up for martial art lessons. I couldn't attend all the classes, but Genkai was patient with me. One day she assigned Hiei to work with me. He was always so far ahead of everyone else. It wasn't long before we became good friends, at least when I attended."

"How old were you when she…? Yusuke asked.

"About thirteen…Hiei and some others moved on and found other trainers. I dropped out because mother was getting worse and then…well, you know the rest." Kurama said, he shrugged then continued. "Hiei got so good, he decided to enter competitions so he wasn't around much, but we kept in touch. He was entering every event he could, even if it meant he had to take a train or bus for days. As you can tell from his living room, he did quite well. He placed in the top ten for a year or so and then kept moving up as the others retired. Soon he was winning everyone he entered." Kurama paused. He was still looking down and toying with the sheet.

"His parents must be proud." Yusuke said, wanting to break the silence and hear that soft alto voice talk some more.

Kurama smirked. "Who knows?"

Yusuke was taken aback by that and was going to ask what the red head meant when he continued.

"Hiei's an orphan. I always thought I had a rough life, but I can't even imagine what it was like growing up in an orphanage. When he found himself being passed up for adoption year after year, he started rebelling. The nuns were always taking pity on him so they signed him up for lessons at the temple. Little did they know Hiei would find the passion and dedication it took to be one of the best martial artists in the world. When he turned eighteen, he was no longer legally bound to the orphanage. Since he had been taking his winnings and putting them into high yield interest accounts, along with a few gambles in the stock market. He was able to buy this building out right. When he turned twenty-one, he opened the bar…I helped with the design."

"It's good you two found each other." Yusuke commented.

"To be honest, we became more than friends." Kurama admitted, looking at the raven haired for his reaction.

"You mean Hiei's…? Yusuke began to say, his eyebrows rising beyond their limits.

"Are you surprised by that?" Kurama asked, after seeing the reaction.

Yusuke didn't say anything as he processed the information. Keeping an open mind and not judging either way, he realized he knew very little about Hiei, so he said. "No…actually I'm not."

"Hiei is actually bi-sexual." Kurama informed.

"So that's what the notation by the names in the book meant?" Yusuke said, though more in thought.

Kurama sat there looking at him, but then realized. "Oh…you are referring to the statement 'both' as next to my name by my photo."

"Uh…oh sorry, yeah." Yusuke said. Feeling a little embarrassed for saying his thought out loud.

"That's okay, I'm in to both as well, though more men find me attractive than women." Kurama said with indifference.

"So are you two still, you know…close?" Yusuke asked, he didn't know why he cared. It was not like he was 'involved' with the red head, though he did say he was willing to try. 'Wait, were he and Hiei going to be stepping on each other toes?'

"No, not anymore, though I think we both sometimes think about it. It didn't last long, but I'm thankful it didn't ruin our friendship, in fact, the experience left us feeling closer, I believe."

"That's good." Yusuke nodded. "Though you stay here sometimes?" He looked to the small pile of clothes on the dresser.

Kurama gave a nod, saying. "If you are referring to the fact that I have clothes here and that we sleep in the same bed, then yes, I do stay here on occasion. This…" He indicated his body. "Is not the first time something like this has happened and I…" He looked up in thought. "I guess I see this place as a refuge, I don't have anywhere I can hide except here. A place I can be myself. You might not believe it, but Hiei is very patient and has a motherly instinct, I think I find myself needing the care he can provide and I think deep down Hiei enjoys providing it."

Yusuke smiled in understanding, with the way Hiei has been taken care of the red head and, well, him too, he could believe it. "I'm finding out more about Hiei from you and I went to school with him." He chuckled.

"Hiei is a very private person. He will only proved information when, one, he feels you need to know or two, if you ask directly." Kurama said.

They were still holding hands as silence once again took over. Yusuke looked at the time on his cell phone. "Kuwabara should be here soon." He tried to assure the red head.

"My, my, isn't this touching." Both looked up to see Karasu standing in the doorway with Bui right behind him.

Both boys froze in fear, neither one had heard the door or any noise. Finally Kurama, with his eyes narrowing, asked. "Where's Hiei?"

"I'm glad to see there's still some fire left…I'll enjoy trying to put it out." Karasu purred. Addressing Bui over his shoulder, but still looking at the red head, he said. "You see Bui…whenever you lose something…it is always in the last place you look."

"What the hell do you want?" Yusuke yelled, his fist clenching.

Looking to Yusuke, Karasu said. "You have become a thorn in my side, a thorn I'm all too happy to remove. However the rose it's attached to, I plan to keep. You saved me the trouble of hunting you down." Looking back to Kurama, he added. "Now as for you, I've been looking for you, you've shouldn't have left like that." Placing a finger in his mouth, he sucked on it before pulling it out with a 'pop.' "I wasn't done with the lesson." He mused.

"You stay away from him you sadistic bastard!" Yusuke yelled, standing.

Ignoring the raven haired, Karasu continued to look at the red head. "I told you to stay away from him. Do you think he will be your friend when I tell him what you did?"

Kurama's face went white.

"You bastard." Yusuke growled coming around the bed. He made to strike Karasu, but instead of making contact with his face, he found his arm caught in mid swing by Bui and then his world went black.

End Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Chocolate eyes opened and blinked in confusion. 'What the…?' Focusing, Yusuke took in his surroundings and it immediately dawned on him that he wasn't in Hiei's apartment anymore. "Toto, it looks like I'm not in Kansas anymore." He muttered as he looked around the simple wood structured room. The place was lit by globed lamps, letting him make out the walls made of paper, the wood floor and the ceiling, which was made up of a series of wooden beams.

Rotating his neck in an attempt to loosen the aching feeling and ease a pounding headache, the raven haired noticed he was tied to a chair. His hands were bound in front of him, pulled between his knees and secured to the support railing of the chair, his ankles were also tied, one to each leg.

"So, you're finally awake." A nasally voice from behind him said.

Yusuke turned his head, trying to see who had spoken. A slim figure wearing a dark blue business suit with long, grey, waist length hair came into view. The older man had pale wrinkly skin and looked well 'creepy' would be the only way the raven haired could describe him, he still managed to smirk though. "Well, if it isn't the good old DA."

The man ignored the remark and proceeded across the room. Sliding open a piece of wall, he said. "He's awake." He then stepped back as Karasu came through the door, followed by Kurama.

"Kurama." Yusuke said. The red head walked in followed by Bui, who appeared to be holding a length of rope. Brown eyes followed it and noticed it led to Kurama's neck. He also noticed the red head's hands were tied in front of him and he was gagged with a bandana between his teeth. He tried to make eye contact, but the green eyes would not look at him. Bui placed a firm hand on a shoulder, pushing Kurama to his knees. The body builder held the rope taunt making the red head hold his neck still. Yusuke got the image of a dog wearing a choker collar that was being pulled taunt to enforce obedience.

Karasu approached Kurama and ran a hand along the side of his face. "We can get back to our fun soon my petite. This will only take a minute." He leaned over and licked the pale lips, grazing the exposed teeth. Kurama tensed and tried to turn away, but a firm hand on his shoulder and the tightening of the rope around his neck, left him unable to move much. He did however bring his bound hands up, pushing the figure back some.

SLAP

"Now that wasn't nice." Karasu said. Stepping back after he'd backhandedly slapped the boy. Kurama's head had turned to the side from the force causing him to choke as the rope dug into his skin, right across his Adam's apple.

"Back off." Yusuke yelled.

"Time to remove the thorn in my side." Karasu mused, giving one last look to Kurama before turning to address Yusuke.

"Look, I don't know what you think I know, but it isn't much. I was going to write a fiction book…" Yusuke tried to explain.

"Well, I have to admit, I wasn't too concern about a book being written, but when you got a hold of the police report and tried to get a copy of the autopsy. Let's just say…you were getting too warm." Karasu said, walking towards him.

Yusuke looked to the DA. "So why did you give Kuwabara a copy to give to me if you wanted to keep it your little secret." Yusuke asked.

"Toguro likes to play games." Karasu said, looking to the older gentleman.

"Yes, you see I found it quite amusing to see the tall handsome detective squirm when he thought he was in trouble." Toguro mused, chuckling.

"You find Kuwabara handsome…I think I'm going to be sick." Yusuke muttered, sticking his tongue out.

"You getting a copy of the report was fine, but someone left the list of suspects in it." Karasu said, looking to Toguro.

"It was not my fault the boy came to you needing a companion." The man said.

"All I know is that the suspects were students here at the temple." Yusuke said and realized they must be in the dojo of the temple.

"That's true." Karasu said, leaning over face to face with the raven haired. "But I wasn't to concern with that either, that is until you met my red head over there." He glanced back and acknowledged the figure still on his knees.

"I don't see you the type that kills, you make lousy threats and if you don't mind some advice…you need to be a little more creative. I mean come on, if you wanted me to back off, you should have thought of something better than paper notes. I mean…jeez you could have blown up my car….wait, I don't have a car…okay my apartment….if you would have blown up my apartment then maybe I would have gotten the message." Yusuke said with cockiness.

The raven haired was not too surprised when he was backhanded across the face. He was a former high school punk and had been in his share of fights, most started because of his big mouth.

Licking the blood from his lips, he pushed again. "You seem like a person who likes to boast, why don't you tell me what happened."

"I'll amuse you." Toguro said, stepping forward. "It was a cold chilly night."

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Please…my first book started out better than that."

SLAP

The slap to the other side of his head left him a little woozy. Blinking, he tried to focus back on the DA.

"Well, it's true." He joked, but squeezed his eyes shut as the hand rose.

"Enough Karasu, the boy wants to know why he's going to die." Toguro said.

"You and your games." Karasu said.

"As I was saying……"

_He only needed one more item. Then he would stop, he swore, no more. Deciding to take one item from each building was a good idea. It was less likely to be noticed missing. He doubted the master spent much time outside the dojo room and her private quarters. The rest of the temple's buildings were closed off. He hoped Hiei came through, he said he'd talked to a few people who were interested in the items, willing to pay top dollar if they were authentic. The items he was taking had to be decades old, for the temple was over a hundred years in itself, wouldn't that make the items in it the same age? _

_It had been so easy that first time, now it was like an addiction. Stealing one thing had led to another and so on. Since he didn't attend but ever other week, who would suspect him of taking the items, it was also easy to explain to his mother why he was late on the nights he did attend. "Mother, one student stays to help clean the dojo, since I am not attending all the classes, it is only fair when I do, that I be the one to stay and help Master Genkai." She had been pleased to know her son was helpful and responsible, though she worried about him coming home so late. Little did she know her son was staying to rob the joint, waiting until Genkai went to her rooms before making his way to a building to case it out, then meeting Hiei so he could take the item and hide it for him._

_Mother's bills were getting out of hand, once Hiei sold the items, the black haired was going to take the money and make an anonymous donation to the hospital in Shori's name._

_Staying in the evening shadows, the red head stopped outside a small building. Wanting to take a quick peek, for he had found himself wasting minutes picking a lock, only to find out the building was a storage shed for the gardener. He poked a hole in the paper wall, trying to see what was inside. It was kind of stupid to have a lock on a building made of paper, but the honor system was strong here and besides it would look to obvious if he made a hole big enough to allow his small frame in. Being discrete was the only way to not get caught._

_He was surprise to see a man along with master Genkai inside and found himself watching as the two exchanged words in a heated discussion. _

"_I know what you are doing and I will no longer turn my back." Genkai said._

"_I'm the new DA so you better watch what you say old hag." The man said._

"_You are taking my students and whoring them out. I don't know what you did to get them to do it, but you're sick and so is that friend of yours." She said._

"_Karasu is a business partner, in exchange for campaign money. I made a deal to let him open his escort service." The man said._

"_Prostitution ring's more like it." She grumbled. _

"_Now it was only fair, after what you did to my brother. I needed to get Karasu some prime flesh and I couldn't help but notice you have some very attractive students." He mused._

"_You're the one who believes your brother committed suicide…that's not my fault." She said softly._

"_Oh no, of course not, just because he loved you with all his heart, even helped you get this school going and 'even' gave you his life savings to help fund it, only to be turned down time and time again, breaking his heart over and over. When you turned down his marriage proposal and told him you no longer thought it wise to be his partner, what did you expect him to do, be on his marry way and let bygones be bygones." _

"_The police said it was a tragic accident…that the road was icy." She said._

"_Yes, blame anything but yourself." He muttered._

"_I will stop you." She said._

_Shuiichi heard someone and turned to see two men standing right behind him. "My, my, what do we have here?" The man who was tall, lean and had long black hair said. _

_The large man who standing just behind and to the side crossed his big arms and just glared._

_Shuiichi's eyes widen and he went to run, but the large man grabbed him by the back of the shirt, lifting him like he was lifting a cat by the scruff._

"_Bring him." The black haired man said, sliding the door open and stepping in. _

"_Karasu, how nice of you to…" The man stopped as he saw the red headed boy hanging by the second man's arm._

"_You had an eavesdropper." The man now known as Karasu said._

"_Shuiichi, what are you still doing here." Genkai asked, seeing the fear in the large green eyes._

"_I….I was." Shuiichi didn't know what to say, should he admit he was there to steal. He was let go, dropping hard to his knees on the wood floor._

"_Hehehe, you probably didn't know did you, you're becoming more senile everyday." The man said._

"_What?" She asked._

"_The boy's been stealing from you." The man chuckled._

"_Is this true?" She asked, turning to look at the red head._

"_I'm afraid so." Karasu answered. "Just small things, like daggers and small figurines, I'm sure it's for a good cause….like his poor, sick mother's hospital bills." _

"_Shuiichi." She said, shaking her head. "You should have come to me."_

"Wait, you telling me Kurama got involved because he'd been caught stealing. Give me a break. I spent time in juve for petty thief and vandalism…no big deal." Yusuke boasted.

SLAP

"Let the man finish." Karasu said.

The blows to his head were making it throb, but the raven haired composed himself and listened.

"_How much do you think he heard?" The older man said._

"_Enough I'm afraid." Karasu said._

"_I won't say anything, I swear, my mother…she's very sick, I need to get home." Shuiichi started rambling._

"_Let the boy go." Genkai said threateningly._

"_I don't know…he's awful sweet, delicate, like a rose that's yet to bloom. He's what….no older than 13, still a virgin." Karasu caressed the pale, young face before fingering the short red hair. "So innocent." _

_Shuiichi turned his head in disgust._

"_Let this gorgeous hair grow long and you could pass as a young woman." Karasu mused, continuing to play with the hair._

"_Take him then." The man said._

"_I will, he'll bring top dollar for his virginity, but then again, I might just take it myself." Karasu smiled, running a finger across the pale lips. Shuiichi opened his mouth and bit the finger. _

_Jerking his hand back, Karasu smirked. "Well, it seems this sly little fox has some fire in him." _

_WACK_

_Tears came to the green eyes as his hands came up in defense._

"_That's some fire I'm willing to play with." The black haired mused, placing the finger in his mouth and sucking._

"_And you say I play games." The older man grumbled._

"_Oh, there there, little one." Karasu cooed pulling Shuiichi's arms down. "Look at me." He placed a hand on the boy's chin, making him look up. "Here, let me help wipe those tears away." He leaned over and proceeded to lick the wetness off the boy's cheek. "You're going…(lick)…to be…(lick)…so tight." He whispered. Letting go of the red head's chin, he smiled at the confused look on the boy's face._

"_Get your filthy hands off him." Genkai said in disgust._

"_Watch your mouth old woman." Karasu snarled, turning. "Maybe I need to teach you a lesson." He went towards her._

"_Shuiichi RUN!" Genkai yelled and hit the older man in the stomach. She then went after the man named Karasu. He tried to grab her, but she hit him in the face. _

_Shuiichi didn't hesitate as he rolled and scrambled to his feet. Feeling the large man right behind him, he fumbled towards the door. He turned as he heard Genkai let out a cry, hitting the large man in the back with a double fisted blow. The man barely acknowledged the blow as he turned and backhanded the small old woman in the head, sending her across the room. She landed with a crash, hitting a display table before landing in a heap on the floor._

"_Bui!" Karasu yelled._

_The large man, Bui, grabbed Shuiichi, who was frozen in shock, by his shirt again and turned back. Bui raised an eyebrow when he saw the older man leaning over the master._

"_It looks like her neck's broken, she's dead." The older man said, looking to Karasu with worry._

"_Old hag, you should have kept your mouth shut." Karasu said._

_The older man stressed. "I can not be linked to this." _

"_Don't panic Toguro. You're the new DA. Surely you can cover this up. I can handle the students, they won't talk." Karasu said._

"_What about him?" Toguro asked, seeing the red head crying._

"_I'll take care of him." Karasu said turning to run a hand over the boy's face, wiping the tears away. "I'm sure I'll think of something."_

"_Then let's get out of here, her students can find her." _

"You see now what your new friend did." Karasu said looking at the red head, who lowered his eyes.

"I see a frightened boy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Yusuke said, still trying to make eye contact with the green eyes.

"Funny." Karasu said, tapping a finger, hard, on the raven haired's head. "She died trying to protect him and he returned the favor by giving himself to me willingly. You see with the other's, I had to blackmail and some, I got addicted to drugs, but my red head here." He looked over fondly. "He was willing to do anything for dear old mom, including letting me take his sweet, young body and doing anything I asked." He looked back at Yusuke. "Would you like to hear what he's willing to do to get money for the hospital bills…like crawl on his knees to take a dick in his mouth…"

"Shut up." Yusuke said through clenched teeth.

"Or dressing himself up as a naughty little school girl." Karasu continued.

"I said SHUT UP!!" Yusuke yelled, pulling on his bound hands and rubbing the skin raw.

"He's even done some bondage." Karasu mused, walking over to pull the red head's head back by the hair. "Seeing the way he looks at the moment, I think I'll give it a try sometime. I got worried when I noticed a change in him, for you see, he had a lot of fire in him and I was slowly putting it out, that is, until he met you. I noticed the way he acted after spending time with you, why…you seemed to have re-sparked his fire. I couldn't have that, he was liable to break and spill his guts." Caressing the pale face, he added. "But after this, I'll get you hooked on something and then I won't have to worry, will I my pet, as long as dear 'mommy' is taken care of, you'll do anything I ask."

"What are you going to do with me? Are you willing to let another death be on your conscious?" Yusuke asked. He didn't want to see it anymore. He wanted to get the sick bastard away from the red head.

"I don't see a problem handling you. A wannabe author found washed up on the shores of the temple grounds. Came to do research and fell off the cliff. I don't even think it would make front page news." Karasu said. He had let go of Kurama and had walked back over to Yusuke, which is what the raven haired wanted. "Toguro managed to keep Genkai's unfortunate death under lock and key, so I'm sure he can do the same with yours."

"Did you kill Dr. Shigure?" Yusuke asked, looking to the DA.

"No… the poor man…he killed himself…seems he had regrets after taking the money." Toguro answered.

"You'll be found out. It's only a matter of time." Yusuke said.

"Well, it won't be because of you." Karasu whispered and walked around the raven haired. "I think a good lesson is in order here, how about I take my red head in front of you, hmm. Then you can see why he's my most requested pet."

"You sick son of a bitch." Yusuke growled, he had managed to get one hand free and grabbed the black haired by the pants. He didn't know what he could do, but he was pissed and letting anger drive him.

Karasu was taken off guard and staggered into Yusuke. Pushing to get away, he knocked the chair off balance, causing it to fall back with a 'thud'. The raven haired's head hit the floor, making him see spots.

"How dare you!" Karasu growled. "I'll enjoy choking the life out of you instead." He went to bend over Yusuke.

Yusuke, trying not to panic, frantically pulled on the rope to get his other hand free, while his free hand was pushing Karasu, trying to keep the man off him. He looked up when he saw something hit the angry figure, hearing an 'oaf' at the same time. In a blink, Karasu was no longer above him.

When Kurama saw the chair fall and had heard Karasu's words, he was on his feet and in an instant he'd stepped on Bui's foot while slamming an elbow into the rib cage. The large man was taken off guard just enough to let go of the rope. The red head then ran over and slammed his body into Karasu's, knocking the breath out of both of them as they landed hard on the floor. They were just starting to wrestle when…

BANG

Everything froze as dead silence filled the room. Nothing seemed to move as the sound echoed away.

After a moment, Yusuke rolled over, having untied the remaining ropes. His eyes went wide as he saw Kurama on top of Karasu, neither moving. His eyes then looked to the figure of Toguro standing above them with a gun in his hand. He heart skipped a beat at the thought of the man shooting the red head, but then he noticed the man's face paling and at the same time, his eyes rolled back into his head. Toguro fell over, face first, barely missing the two on the floor.

"POLICE…EVERYBODY…FREEZE!" A loud gruff voice was heard.

Looking over to the voice, Yusuke saw Kuwabara on one knee with a gun held firmly in his hands and Hiei standing right behind him.

"Took you two long enough." He said, getting on hands and knees, his head throbbing at the move.

Other cops, along with a couple of paramedics, came running in, one going to Toguro, while one went to Kurama, who hadn't moved off Karasu.

"Shut up Urameshi…it took…awhile to find…out…where you were." Kuwabara huffed, taking deep breaths.

"Well, I wasn't at the donut shop." He quirked, trying to see Kurama, but his view was blocked by a half dozen officers in uniform.

The orange haired came over to help him up. Yusuke could tell he was fatigued.

"What's wrong with you? Too many powdered this morning?" He said jokingly, after he was on his feet.

"Shut up…about my donuts…have you ever…climbed those stairs…their murder?" Kuwabara panted, pointing to the outside and the stairway that was now visible.

"No, I was probably carried up." Yusuke said softly, looking towards the stairs and wondering how long he'd been 'dead to the world.'

Kuwabara rolled his eyes and went to handle Karasu, the other officers had gotten him up and handcuffed. "Where's the big guy?" He asked, noticing Bui was gone.

"He made a run for it, there's men already on his tail…he won't get far." One officer said.

Yusuke saw Kurama sitting on the floor with his head down, though he appeared to be shaking it to questions being asked by a paramedic.

Walking over, he heard the red head say. "I'm fine." The man pressed lightly on his neck and asked something. "No, it doesn't hurt." Was the replay. The man then said something else, to which Kurama replied. "Thank you, I'll do that."

Standing above the red head, Yusuke waited until the paramedic stood. The man moved to address him, but he said. "Give me a minute, will yeah." At that, Kurama looked up, but avoided looking directly at him. Instead, he looked beyond him at something else.

"Kurama I…" Yusuke didn't know what to say.

"Now you know." Kurama said with indifference, shrugging. He gave a slight nod and Yusuke heard someone move behind him.

Hiei came up behind and around the raven haired. He got on his knees beside the red head and green eyes, with tears forming, looked to crimson ones.

"Let's go." Hiei whispered.

Kurama nodded and with some help, managed to get to his feet. Supporting the red head, Hiei looked backed and gave Yusuke a curt nod before leading the red head to the door. Yusuke stood there with the paramedic trying to ask him questions as he watched the two disappear down the steps.

End Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Yusuke walked into the Dragon's Den right as it opened for the evening. It had been almost a week and he was meeting Kuwabara for the first time since that day at the temple. Because of the investigation, Yusuke had been advised not to talk to Hiei or Kurama until after their statements and interviews were completed. The raven haired all but pulled his hair out waiting to hear from the detective.

"Hey Hiei." Yusuke said as he took the last stool at the bar, near the unmarked door that, he now knew, led to an apartment.

Hiei placed a beer on the counter. "I take it you heard from Kuwabara." He said.

Yusuke looked up, Hiei had never called the detective by his true name, usually calling him 'Fool' or 'Idiot' or something.

"Yeah, he's on his way." He answered, taking a sip.

"Are you alright?" The black haired asked. Yusuke could actually see concern in the unusual red eyes.

"A mild concussion." He said. "Thanks for what you did…you saved my life you know."

"Hn." Was the replay.

Yusuke smiled, that's Hiei. He had learned from Kuwabara that Hiei saw Bui placing his unconscious form in the back of a car in the alley and contacted him. Kuwabara had officers dispatched to the escort service and Karasu's residence before Hiei suggested the temple as a long shot.

"Have you talked to Kurama?" Yusuke finally asked after moments of silence.

Before he got an answer, the chime on the door alerted them to Kuwabara's presence.

"I'm glad you're here Hiei." The tall orange haired said. "Saves me from repeating myself." He tried to joke as he took the stool right next to Yusuke.

Hiei just looked at him, cocking his head.

Seeing Hiei's look, he said. "The DA's dead, he didn't survive emergency surgery last night."

Hiei raised an eyebrow as Yusuke lowered his head.

"So what now?" He asked, finally looking up and taking a drink.

"Karasu hasn't said much, but what he has, he blames on Toguro and since we didn't get a chance to talk to Toguro, it's the game of his word against his kind of thing."

The other two nodded in understanding.

"Also." Kuwabara said, getting their attention. "We talked to all the students on the list, they've all been cleared. Most are willing to testify, in exchange for pardons, that they were being blackmailed and/or forced to do drugs and prostitution."

"Why were they even on the list?" Yusuke asked.

"I can answer that." Hiei said. "All the students who showed up that morning and found Genkai were interviewed."

"And what we found in the actual report, which wasn't all blacked out, was former and present students at the time had been interviewed. There was also a list of friends and family members, that list had Toguro and Karasu's name on it." Kuwabara added. "Its standard procedure, you start with friends, family, etc, process of elimination. The report was also made to read like a blotched robbery, so the priority wasn't high."

"Is Kurama in trouble for stealing?" Yusuke asked.

"Yukina, the curator of the temple, says she doesn't know of anything missing, so we can't prove anything was even taken." Kuwabara said.

"That's good." Yusuke muttered.

"Besides, the statutes of limitations run out, since he was a minor at the time." The orange haired added.

"Have you found Bui?" Hiei asked.

"No, he's still evading capture. With Kurama's and Karasu's statements, we know he's the one that actually killed the master, whether it was an accident or not, it'll still be looked into as a murder."

"Did you talk to the coroner's daughter?" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah, after we talked to you, we found her still living in the house she grew up in. She let us take all of Dr. Shigure's personal files, which were still in the basement, if you can believe that. Seems the doctor didn't destroy Genkai's file, but had hidden it with his personal ones. We're already re-running the tests on fibers, blood and hope to get DNA, plus she let us have his personal journals, their still being analyzed."

Hiei excused himself to wait on another customer.

"Are you still going to write a book?" Kuwabara asked.

"I don't know. Keiko's been calling everyday saying this is my big break, trying to get me to go on the talk shows and do magazine interviews but…I don't know." The raven haired answered, playing with the label on the bottle.

"Well, it's going to be at least a year, if not longer, before this goes to trial. Karasu is facing charges of child pornography, child prostitution, endangering a minor, accessory to murder, tampering with evidence, falsifying statements to the police, money laundering, drug involvement, possible accessory to murderer, blackmailing and who knows how many more charges by the time this things over." Kuwabara said. "It'll be in the news for months. Not to mention all the stuff coming out about the DA, we have slim crawling out of the wood works, telling stories of blackmail and scams he was pulling. They all want their fifteen minutes of fame too." He looked at Hiei as he returned and placed a beer in front of him. "You might find this interesting, before we could get the warrants to freeze their assets, someone emptied one of Karasu's accounts…you wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?" He took a sip of beer.

"Why would I know anything about it?" The black haired said completely calm.

"At first we thought it was Bui, needing escape money, until we got a hold of a security tape. Even though it's in black and white, and grainy, the person had long hair pulled up in a high ponytail, they were very good at avoiding looking directly at the camera. They were wearing pants and a dress shirt. Though it looked like a woman, the teller was sure it was a young man." Kuwabara was still looking at Hiei. "Also, just a few days later, a large donation was made to the hospital in the same amount that was withdrawn, since it was donated anonymously, they can't give us a name."

Hiei shrugged.

"You think it was Kurama." Yusuke gasped. It finally haven dawned on him what the detective was hinting at.

"Who knows, may never know…before the tape could be analyzed further." The orange haired smirked. "Someone accidentally erased it."

"Clumsy person." Hiei muttered.

"I never did learn how to operate a VCR." Kuwabara said, taking a drink.

"Well at least it went to a good cause." Yusuke said, finishing his beer.

The tall gentleman looked at his watch before reaching for his wallet. "I need to go…got a hot date with the curator tonight…did I mention, she's hot."

"Don't worry about it." Hiei said, refusing the money. "Use it to buy her flowers or something."

"Thanks."

They watched their friend leave, both feeling like they owed him.

"Did Kurama take the money?" Yusuke asked after Kuwabara was gone.

Hiei looked at the raven haired. "And if he did?"

He sighed. "I guess…I don't want to know...is he at least alright?"

"He's holding his own."

Yusuke wondered if he meant physically or mentally. "Do you think he'll talk to me?"

"Why don't you go upstairs and ask him yourself." Hiei said, watching the chocolate eyes widen.

"He's here."

Again, Hiei nodded. "He was evicted from his apartment the other day."

"Why?" Yusuke wondered, surprised.

"Karasu was paying for everything." Hiei answered.

This time Yusuke nodded.

"Go see him. I need to stay down here for a few hours until my help arrives." The black haired said, walking away.

Yusuke took a few deep breaths before heading to the unmarked door. He walked up the stairs slowly, trying to keep calm, telling himself one of two things would happen. Either he would be asked to leave or they would talk, either one was a possibility, he hoped for the latter.

Knocking, he waited for an answer. When none came, his hand went to the knob. Peeking in, he saw the back of the red head sitting on the couch. Walking in and around, he took in Kurama sitting cross legged, hugging a pillow to his chest and rocking ever so slowly, staring at nothing.

"Kurama?" He said softly, not wanting to scare the man, who seemed to be in his own little world.

Green eyes focused on him and before he could blink, the red head threw himself at the raven haired, hugging him. Yusuke was taken off guard for a moment, but then brought his hands up, returning the gesture.

They held each other, saying nothing.

Finally Kurama pulled away. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, just had my brains scrambled a little, nothing serious." Yusuke joked, rubbing the back of his head. "You alright?"

The red head nodded and sat back down, picking up the pillow and hugging it to his chest again. "Everything happened so fast." He said softly.

"Hey, it's over." Yusuke said, sitting down beside him.

Kurama only nodded.

"What are you going to do now?" Yusuke didn't know why he asked that.

"Don't know." Kurama shrugged. "I have no place to live…nothing belongs to me, except the clothes I have here."

Again, the raven haired's mouth was speaking without his mind processing it first. "If you let me, I'd like to help." Came out, he even brought up a hand and cupped the pale face.

Kurama closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

"We'll take it one day at a time." He said.

Green eyes opened with a whispered. "Yes."

Removing his hand, Yusuke said. "Thank you by the way."

"For what." Large eyes blinked.

"You got Karasu off me…you could have gotten yourself killed." He said.

"I couldn't watch it again." Kurama said softly, looking down.

"What?" He said, not understanding.

The red head looked up, forcing a soft smile. "Doesn't matter now."

"Let's get out of here." The raven haired said, standing and grabbing a hand.

"Where are we going?" Kurama said as he allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, the pillow falling to the floor.

"I don't know…you hungry?" Yusuke asked, still holding the hand while walking to the door.

Kurama stopped the raven haired long enough to get his shoes on before they were out the door.

Waving to Hiei, they hit the sidewalk.

Pausing, Kurama looked to Yusuke, waiting.

"I know this great Chinese place." He smiled.

The red head let a soft smile show, nodding in agreement.

Half an hour later, the two were sitting at a table with several dishes in front of them.

They had not said a word to each other since they left the bar.

"Have you heard the new CD by…?" Yusuke went to ask, but stopped as the red head lowered his head. "Something wrong?"

"I know what you're trying to do, you think you can avoid it or even ignore it, but it won't go away." Kurama said softly, not looking up.

"Avoid or ignore what." Yusuke said.

Kurama looked up. "What I am."

Confused, Yusuke said. "I don't understand."

Trying not to raise his voice and remain calm, Kurama said. "I'm a whore, I sold my body and did things you could never imagine and…yes…I did it for my mother."

"I don't care." Yusuke said, wondering why this had been brought up here.

Green eyes widened. "You might say that, but deep down you think I'm disgusting. I was there, remember? I saw the look on your face as Karasu told you…" Yusuke cut the red head off.

"Now wait a damn minute." He growled, placing his glass, hard, on the table. "Yes, I found all that disgusting, but it wasn't towards you." He took a deep breath. "Karasu took advantage of a thirteen year old boy who cares about his sick mother. You were too young to know what was going on….so you were stealing some dumb artifacts, big deal, he brain washed you into thinking you would be in some kind of trouble if anyone found out…he was the disgusting one…" Yusuke muttered the last part, looking down.

"But I could have gotten out of it." Kurama said.

"If you had tried to get away, he would have probably killed you. Where would your mother be then?" Yusuke questioned.

"Hiei did." Kurama said, watching Yusuke's jaw drop. "Karasu tried to blackmail him, when he had nothing to blackmail with, he tried drugs, but Hiei left and started doing the tournaments. He didn't know it at the time, but I begged Karasu to leave him alone."

Yusuke sat there.

"Hiei wanted me to go with him, but I refused. Mother was sick, I wanted the money and I could not just leave her like that. He couldn't accept me being Karasu's toy, so he ended the relationship we had." Kurama took a deep breath before continuing. "About a year later, Karasu tried again to get Hiei to work for him, but I put a stop to it. One evening, Hiei came to me to try, again, to get me to leave. When he found me on the floor of my apartment, unconscious and bleeding, he confronted Karasu, who in turn told Hiei what I had been doing to protect him. After Hiei realized what I had done for him to get Karasu to leave him alone, we managed to salvage what friendship we had. Karasu was beyond mad, but he and I made a deal on 'my' terms."

"You made a decision…again you were what fourteen…fifteen…you were trying to protect Hiei, which took guts…you must have been scared out of your wits…I know I would have been." Yusuke didn't know who he was trying to convince, himself or Kurama.

"Was I?" Kurama cocked his head. "I don't think you understand." When Yusuke looked at him with confusion, he stated. "I wasn't a virgin when Karasu blackmailed me…I'd lost it to Hiei that summer?"

The raven haired's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "I…"

"Believe in your excuses…it doesn't condone what I did." Kurama said softly, getting up.

"Where're you going?" Yusuke snapped back, also getting up.

"I need air." Kurama said, walking quickly out of the restaurant with Yusuke right on his heels. Cars honked as the red head crossed the street without looking. The raven haired held up a hand in apology as some of the drivers yelled at them.

He followed the red head to the park, keeping his distance until Kurama slowed. Rushing forward, he caught the red head as he collapsed.

Kurama was sopping uncontrollably and Yusuke had to struggle with him until he gave up and let the raven haired hold him. They sat there in the park, on the ground, with Yusuke patting red hair and whispering soothing words.

After a few minutes and a few people stopping to ask if they were all right, Kurama started muttering. Yusuke stopped running his hand through the red hair, pausing as he tried to hear.

"I'm weak, I'm pathetic, I'm worthless…" Kurama was muttering over and over.

"Hey…listen to me." Yusuke said with anger, pushing the red head away from him and shaking him by the shoulders, maybe a little too hard, for the red head whimpered. Stopping, he said through clenched teeth. "Look at me."

Green eyes opened in fear.

Yusuke sighed and pulled Kurama back to him. "Sorry." He muttered.

"Why?" He heard and felt hands pushing on his chest.

"Why what?" The raven haired wasn't going to let go.

"Why…why do you care?" Kurama said, finally pushing hard enough to make Yusuke let go.

"I…" He tried to think of 'why', but didn't know how to put it in words. He shrugged and then did something he thought he would never do in a million years.

He leaned forward and kissed the red head on the lips. Not hard, not soft, just the right amount of presser to get his point across.

Kurama blinked, sitting there dumbfounded.

Yusuke noticed they had attracted an audience. Giving them death glares, he pulled Kurama to his feet.

"Let's go to my place." He muttered, guiding the still dumbfounded red head out of the park.

a)a)a)a

The sun was setting by the time Yusuke keyed into his apartment. Kurama had not removed his hand from his the entire walk and Yusuke hadn't given a damn about the people who stared at them.

"Sit." He said, guiding the red head to the couch and lightly giving him a shove so he would fall into it.

Kurama was acting lost again and Yusuke was kind of frustrated about it, not at the red head, but at himself for not knowing what to do. He went to the kitchen and called Hiei, one, to let him know that Kurama was still with him and two, to ask about what to do. After five minutes of advice, the raven haired hung up the phone and re-entered the living room to find the red head with his knees to his chest rocking, looking as lost as ever.

"Hey." Yusuke said, slipping off his shoes and jacket. He sat down next to Kurama, who looked at him with empty eyes. "You want anything?" He asked.

Kurama shook his head 'no' and then lowered it so his forehead rested on his knees.

"What about a hug?" Yusuke asked. Hiei had told him that the red head would let himself be held, but only after being asked.

Kurama's head came up and he looked at the raven haired for a moment as if wondering if the offer was valid.

"No games, no expectations…I know I kissed you and…I'm sorry…not sorry because I did it, just…" Yusuke shrugged.

He didn't need to explain further as Kurama leaned over and hugged Yusuke's waist, burying his head in his lap. Yusuke pushed Kurama up and held his arm as he repositioned them to a better position. He rested his back against the arm of the couch, bringing his legs up so Kurama could lie between them with his back against his chest. The raven haired folded his arms around the lean red head's chest and they lay there. Yusuke didn't know how much time past before he realized Kurama had fallen asleep. Remembering what Hiei said about him being afraid if he woke up alone, he shifted some and joined the red head in sleep.

End Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

At first he couldn't tell if he had opened his eyes or was dreaming it was pitch dark. That was until a flash of light illuminated the room. It was also quiet, too quiet when thunder was heard rumbling in the distance.

That's what it was. Finally realizing he wasn't hearing the normal night noises, 'the power's out…must be one hell of a storm.' Yusuke thought.

Looking down at Kurama who was still against his chest, he noted the red head had turned on his side, facing the couch and could feel slow, steady breathing. He lay there a few minutes until he felt a cramp in his lower back. Moving slightly, he tried to make it go away, while trying not to disturb the form against him. He ended up smiling when the red head muttered, nuzzling tighter against him.

'I wonder what time it is.' He wondered, knowing the clock next to the TV wouldn't be able to give him the answer.

With the cramp getting worse, Yusuke made the choice to get up, though hating the idea of possibly waking Kurama, who seemed to be in a content sleep, oblivious to the storm. He slowly squirmed out from under the lean figure, who whimpered at the lost of contact.

Stretching, the raven haired felt his back pop. 'Unggg that felt good.' He inwardly groaned the cramp going away as he stood straight.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the room followed by another round of rumbling. It was closer this time and a heavy patter of rain started in, making the quietness from before no more.

He looked at the red head when he heard another whimper from the couch. Now that his eyes were somewhat adjusted to the darkness, Yusuke could see Kurama fidgeting slightly.

Knowing he couldn't continue to sleep on the couch, knowing Kurama might get scared waking up in an unfamiliar place and for no other reasons he could admit to himself, Yusuke reached down and picked up the leaner man then began fumbling towards the bedroom in the darkness.

"What's going on?" Kurama slurred into his chest before raising his head up.

"It's okay. I'm getting us to a nice comfortable bed." He informed, shuffling his feet in hopes of not stubbing his toes.

"Oh." Realization seemed to dawn on Kurama and he woke up completely. Pushing on the man, indicating he wanted to be 'put down', he stated. "I should get back to Hiei's."

"You're not going out in that." Yusuke said and nature agreed with him, as a bright white light flashed, immediately followed by a crack and rumble that rattled the room.

Several near falls and trips later, he laid Kurama on his bed.

"Ugg." He said as he felt the sweat rolling down his shirt, no electricity meant no AC.

"You alright?" Kurama asked, trying to see.

"Yeah, just burning up." Yusuke answered, taking off his clothes and fumbling for a few minutes before getting to the other side of the bed and laying down near the edge. Putting an arm behind his head, he listened to the rain pounding on the roof.

Kurama didn't need to see to know the raven haired was somewhat uncomfortable sharing his bed. "I'll go back to the couch." He said.

"What?" Yusuke looked over though he couldn't see a thing.

"You're uncomfortable." Kurama implied.

"What makes you say that?" He asked.

Kurama shrugged then realized Yusuke probably couldn't see it. "I don't want to impose on you."

"You're not…I brought you in here." Yusuke reminded him.

"Thank you." The red head said, rolling to his side so his back faced the raven haired.

"You're welcome." Yusuke said. "Aren't you hot?"

He didn't get a response.

"Look….you can probably tell this is a king size bed, so make yourself comfortable." He stated.

"Are you sure?" Kurama asked.

"I wouldn't have said anything if I wasn't sure." He retorted, somewhat irritated at the red head's reluctance.

The bed shifted as Kurama got up to remove his clothes. As he lay back down, he shifted back to his side.

They both felt the awkwardness in the air as time seemed to stand still.

Not liking the quietness, Kurama spoke. "What are you thinking about Yusuke?" When he didn't hear an immediate response, he thought maybe he had already fallen asleep.

Taken off guard by the question, Yusuke thought about it, knowing he should answer, he said. "Oh…this and that."

Kurama rolled over, facing him. Lightning continued to flash, followed by rumbling as the storm raged on. "Want to talk about it?"

"Wouldn't want to bore you." Yusuke laughed and the red head could tell it was kind of forced.

Moving closer, yet making sure not to touch, Kurama said. "Sometimes it helps to have an outside opinion."

Yusuke smiled, remembering that same remark he'd made to the red head to get him to talk. "I was thinking about my childhood and how scared I was when it stormed."

"My mother use to hold me and tell me it was God moving his furniture." Kurama said, thinking back to his own childhood.

"That can be a lot of furniture." Yusuke muttered.

"Mother said he could never make up his mind." Kurama chuckled.

"My mom told me to 'buck up' and 'get over it'." The raven haired said. When nothing was said, he added. "She was an alcoholic, been one since before I was born."

"Sorry." Kurama muttered, thinking how lucky he was that even though his mother has been sick for as long as he could remember, she was still there for him and raised him to the best of her abilities.

"Not your fault, she was more than likely drunk when I was conceived. The big 'oops' in her life, she can't even tell me who my father is because she can't remember when, where, or how."

Yusuke felt a hand on his chest, just resting there lightly.

"Do you still…you know…or is she…?" Kurama didn't know how to ask.

Yusuke got an idea of what he was asking. "No, but the last I heard, she was alive. I haven't talk to her though, since the day after I graduated by the skin of my teeth."

Kurama only nodded, starting to feel sorry for the young man.

"Guess her teachings are why I was the school punk. Did you know Hiei was one too?" He continued, trying to change the subject.

"That's right. You'd mentioned you went to the same school. Did you know he was a 'B' average student?" Kurama said, taking the hint.

"No way." Yusuke said, shifting to his side some, the hand on his chest didn't move.

"Had to be an average student or you couldn't do martial arts, it was a 'Sensei's rule'." Kurama said.

"Wow." Then Yusuke muttered 'figures', thinking Hiei had to be smart to do all the investing he did to buy and run his own business. "We didn't hang out, but seemed to have respect for each other none the less." He smirked. "Maybe we gave off that aura of 'I know how you feel' because he had no parents and I really didn't have any either."

The raven haired could feel fingers doing slow, light, lazy, circles on his chest. "What are you doing?" He asked, maybe a little too harshly, for when he felt the body next to him stiffen, he cursed himself.

"Sorry, habit." Kurama muttered, removing his hand and shifting back.

Bringing his arm down, Yusuke grabbed the red head's hand before he could move away completely. "It kind of felt good." He said, squeezing the fingers in a sort of an apology before letting go.

"It did." Kurama said with surprise and if Yusuke could have seen him, he would have seen green eyes sparkling. He hesitated, but then resumed his tracing of lazy patterns on the sweaty chest. After a few minutes, when Yusuke didn't stop him, he dipped his hand lower to the stomach area. One of the raven haired's arms was pinned against him and the other was resting on the bed.

"I lost my virginity in my sophomore year to a senior who just happen to be the captain of the cheerleading squad." Yusuke continued and started gripping the sheet with his 'free' hand. He didn't know why, but what the red head was doing to him was giving him goose bumps.

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "You don't need to tell me this." He said.

Yusuke shrugged. "Why not…you told me?"

The red head placed his head on the raven haired's chest, nodding for him to continue if he wished.

"Her name was Kuroko. She was pretty, nice. During half time at a football game we met under the bleachers. She wasn't a virgin so she showed me what to do, I was so scared and turned on…I don't think I even lasted a minute." He chuckled.

"I think all first times are like that." Kurama assured.

"She was mad and didn't talk to me for the rest of the year." He continued. "I didn't date anyone until I did some community college and had a few women. I thought I needed to please them, so it was kind of one sided…they were the ones to end the relationship."

After a moment of silence, Kurama asked. "Why?"

Yusuke's voice was tinged with hurt as he admitted. "I think the word got out...they all said I was a cold fish."

Kurama felt sorry for the raven haired. "Well, that's their loss." He said, rolling over and placing his body on top of the other.

The rain had stopped, but heat lightning flashed, letting Yusuke see the red head above him and the sympathy in his green eyes.

"Kurama I…"

"Shhh." Kurama placed a finger lightly on his lips, but then leaned forward, replacing his finger with his lips.

They kissed and Yusuke allowed the red head to control it, opening his mouth to allow it to be occupied by the hot tongue.

He couldn't help but moan as a tickling sensation washed over him. Thunder started again and the rain, which had tapered off, picked up as another storm moved through.

Yusuke didn't have time to ponder whether this was right or wrong as Kurama moved from his lips to his cheek and then nibbled his ear. His breath hitched at the same time his body tried to arch.

"Like that do we." Kurama smirked and continued to explore the body beneath him. He scooted down so he could kiss the chest while running a finger over a nipple, receiving the reaction he was hoping for as the man shuddered.

"I…gods." Yusuke breathed, his body going with the flow while his mind tried to process just what in the world was happening.

When a wet tongue licked his nipple, he all but pushed the red head off him, grabbing arms as his cock hardened.

"You alright?" Kurama asked softly, feeling hands grab his arms.

Lightning flashed and Yusuke tried to do a double take as he could have sworn he saw gold in the lust filled green eyes. 'Must have been a trick of the lightning.' He thought.

Taking a deep, shuddering, breath, he let go. Trying to joke, but laced with nervousness, he said. "Yeah…just never felt that before."

Kurama leaned forward, whispering in his ear. "I can make you feel a lot more."

Yusuke shuddered again as he tried to control a moan by biting his lip, this caused the red head to chuckle deep in his throat.

"May I continue?" Kurama asked his voice husky with desire.

Yusuke's head shook 'yes' even though his mind was screaming 'no'. So many thoughts were running through his head. One side was saying, 'this is not right…this is a man doing this to you for god's sakes'. The other saying, 'so what, it feels good, doesn't it…your other brain wouldn't be responding if it didn't feel good'. The one thought that over shadowed them all was, 'his friendship, I don't want to lose his friendship.'

His mind came back to reality when his body went into a circuit overload as he felt Kurama rubbing against his hard on, feeling through the fabrics of their shorts that the red head was just as hard.

Kurama arched his back and moaned while pushing his hips down, grinding his frame in a circular motion against the one beneath him. When Yusuke grabbed his hips, trying to stop the movement, the red head paused and he could tell he was being looked at.

"Kurama…I…I don't want to hurt you…" He said softly, remembering the blood, from when Karasu…

"Yusuke." Kurama said leaning forward and Yusuke felt his hot breath on his face. "You will not hurt me."

"But…I know how two men…" Kurama placed a finger on his lips.

"When done properly, it can feel good for both." He said, removing his finger and giving a soft kiss. "Let me show you."

Yusuke was about to protest when he heard a whispered. "Trust me."

The raven haired nodded and whether Kurama saw it or not, the red head moved down and pulled on his shorts, tugging them until Yusuke lifted his hips, allowing them to be removed. He tried to look at the red head as his legs were spread so the lean figure could settle between them. Small giggles escaped him as he was kissed on his inner thighs.

"Ticklish." He heard, though it sounded like it was being logged for future reference.

"Seems so." He said, grabbing the bed sheets as the kisses were replaced with nibbles. He bit his lip again trying to control his emotions.

Feeling the sheets being pulled, Kurama said. "You may touch me if you wish."

Yusuke forced one of his hands to let go of the bedding. The only thing he could reach was the red hair so he massaged his hand through it, taking in the texture. Kurama seemed to like it as he began to hum and lick the crease between his balls and pelvic area.

"I'm not going to last long." He admitted, but cringed as he thought the red head might be mad to hear that.

"Okay." Kurama said calmly, moving back up so his hips were, again, resting on his. "Relax…you will like this." There was no sign of disappointment in his voice, only reassurance.

Yusuke's eyes went wide as he felt Kurama rise up and then lower himself on his stiff member. His hands immediately went to the lean waist, holding him. "What?" He huffed as he began to feel the heat, followed by tightness, engulf him.

"Relax, I prepared myself…though next time I suggest we use some lube." Kurama whispered before moaning as his body finally stopped, resting again on his hips.

Yusuke barely heard what was said as he gave into the tightness wrapped around his cock. This was something he'd never felt before. The women he'd been with had felt good, but nothing like this.

Kurama started moving up and down, riding him in a wave of ecstasy. He kept his hands on the red head's hips while the red head's hands were on his chest. They soon found a rhythm that pleased them both when Yusuke bent his knees, placing his feet on the bed, so he could thrust up as the red head came down.

Heat lightning was once again illuminating the room and Yusuke found himself entranced watching Kurama ride him. The long red hair was brushing his thighs as he leaned his head back while he bounced up and down. They were both panting in short gasps and it felt like one of his dreams, many dreams, he had had about the red head, but this was a male, not a female, he was with and he admitted to himself that this was better than any dream he could ever have.

He realized Kurama had taken a hand and was pumping his own cock in sync to his bounce, but before the raven haired could think to do something however, Kurama came and the tightness around his cock almost hurt, yet caused him to come hard in the tight passage.

"G…o...ds." He shuddered as his body exploded and white spots dotted his vision.

Kurama slowly pushed up, freeing himself, before falling forward on his chest. They laid there, muscles twitching, gasping for breath.

When the red head's breathing calmed, Yusuke asked. "You alright?" While taking a hand and playing with a lock of hair.

"Hmm…yes and you?" Kurama muttered into the sweaty chest before looking up, trying to see the raven haired's face.

"Yeah, that felt…amazing." He finally said, pausing in playing with the hair, but resuming after a moment.

"I'm glad you liked." Kurama mused and laid his head back down, his breathing becoming shallow as he succumbed to sleep.

Yusuke didn't know how long he laid there and thought about what had just happened before he finally joined the red head in sleep.

a)a)a)a

Yusuke woke to the sound of his cell phone ringing. Sometime, after he had fallen asleep, the power had apparently come back on because he could hear the AC running and the air now had a chill in it. Pushing up from his stomach, he fumbled for the phone.

"Yeah." He said, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"How did it go last night?" Hiei's voice asked.

"Hiei, what time is it?" Yusuke's clock was flashing 12.

"Almost 10."

"He's fine, want to talk to him?" Yusuke asked and looked over to the other side of the bed, only to find it empty. "Kurama." He said looking around the empty room and noticing the red head's clothes were gone.

"What's wrong?" Hiei asked, hearing worry in the voice.

"Hold on." Yusuke said, walking out of the bedroom, hoping to see the red head on the couch. When he wasn't there, he checked the kitchen and even the bathroom, no luck.

"He's not there is he?" Hiei asked.

Yusuke seemed to remember he was on the phone. "Ah, no…he's not." He said, with a heavy sigh.

"There's only a couple a places he'd go. You check the park, I'll check the hospital." Hiei ordered before hanging up.

End Chapter 12


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It took Yusuke a moment to realize the phone was dead and he had to re-register what Hiei had asked him to do. He headed back to the bedroom and picked up the discarded clothes he'd had on the day before, putting them back on to save time.

Right as he hit the front door, the phone rang and he thought about letting the answering machine get it, but then something told him it was important and he rushed to answer it.

"Hello." He said.

"Yusuke?" A female voice was heard.

"Keiko, I don't have time." He said, not wanting to waste time listening to her yell at him over something that wasn't important at the moment.

"Yusuke are you watching the news?" She said with excitement in her voice.

"No, I told you I don't have…" She cut him off.

"Karasu's bail hearing's this morning. The press is covering it live. This is a good chance for you to get some more material for the book…" Yusuke cut her off.

"Damn, that's right." He said, but then thought, 'that's where Kurama is, I'd bet my life on it.' His gut instinct never failed him. "Look Keiko, I've gotta go…"

"But Yusuke…" She whined.

"I'll check it out." He said, though not telling her he was doing it for a completely different reason. He hung up the phone without even saying or hearing a 'bye'.

As he headed out of the apartment, he tried calling Hiei from his cell phone, only to get a busy signal. Not heading to the park, but to the bar, the raven haired kept hitting re-dial, only to keep getting a busy signal. When he found himself in front of the 'closed' bar, he finally got a ring.

"Come on…pick up…" He muttered as he paced the sidewalk in front of the window.

"Hello." He heard.

"Hiei, I think he's at the courthouse." Yusuke spat out, hoping Hiei remembered what today was.

"I figured that out. I've been trying to call you. Where are you?" Hiei asked.

"Your front door." He answered.

"Stay put, I'll be right there." He heard and the phone went dead.

The raven haired pocketed the phone and looked in the window, hoping to see the black haired coming through the unmark door that he could barely make out in the darkened place. Sighing, he paced and then looked again.

"What the hell's taking you so long?" He said, looking down the sidewalk, thinking Hiei might have used his back entrance and would be walking towards him any minute. The concept of how they were going to get to the other side of town was not even a thought at the moment.

Sitting at the corner light, a car caught his attention. It wasn't just any ordinary car. It was a Porsche, a 911 RS Coupe 993, made in 1994, if he had to make a guess. He'd always been fascinated with cars even though he didn't own one. The pearl black finish had something metallic sparkling off it in certain areas and upon closer inspection you could see a flame detail licking along the side as the sun glistened off it. The car turned the corner, coming towards him and he saw the license plate, 'Darknes' (missing one 's' because only 7 letters are allowed on a plate).

Completely taken in by the car, Yusuke was surprised when it stopped right beside him, blocking traffic. The darkened passenger's window went down and he blinked, seeing Hiei behind the wheel.

"Get in." He heard, but still stood there, mouth hanging open.

Cars honked and the raven haired snapped out of it long enough to jog over and get in. The interior was a dark charcoal grey, with the seats done in suede and there was a set of red fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror.

Of course it was a standard and Hiei shifted it into gear, gunning the gas so the tires gave a short squeal before getting up to speed.

"This…this yours?" Yusuke felt stupid asking, but he was flabbergasted as he took in the interior of the car. (I.e. the stereo and such)

Hiei let a small, rare, smile cross his lips, bordering on a smirk. "Graduation gift to myself." He said though his face turned serious when he added. "Kurama snuck in to see his mother this morning."

"Snuck in?" Yusuke didn't understand.

"Visiting hours don't start till nine, she said he was there at eight. He sneaks in all the time. Usually it's in the early mornings after a night…" Hiei let it drop, but then said. "She said he was acting strange and is worried about him and what's happening at the courthouse."

"She knows he works for Karasu." Yusuke's caulked, his jaw dropping again.

"She knows some, but not all." Hiei said, adding. "With the way he's been acting the past week…I'm worried too." It came out softly as he glanced to the side mirror before turning on the blinker and merging with traffic getting on the interstate.

Yusuke nodded, for some reason not the least bit surprised and he admitted to himself he was worried about the red head as well. The way he's been acting lost and the fact that he has 'lost' everything that had been the only life he'd known for almost 10 years, concerned him and he's only known the red head a short while. Hiei's known him for years.

He sat there staring out the window as the world blurred by, unlike driving with Kuwabara, who he called a 'jerky' driver, where he would find himself holding the 'sweet Jesus' bar or holding the dash with a death grip. With Hiei, even as he had to down shift to avoid rear ending other cars, his movements were smooth and he felt an eerily calm. The black haired even used his blinker to change lanes as he sped past cars like they were snails. Risking a glance at the speedometer, he noted the needle was steady at 80 mph.

Sitting there completely content as the car glided through traffic like a shark through water, he watched Hiei let go of the gear shift long enough to turn on the radio, female voices filled the air, breaking the silence.

_**(Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,) **_

_**(So tell me what you want, what you really really want,) **_

_**(I wanna, I wanna, I, wanna, I wanna, I wanna really really really wanna zigazig ha.)**_

_**(If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends)**_

_**(Make it last forever friendship never ends)**_

_**(If wanna be my lover…)**_

Yusuke's head turned slowly, eyebrows arching like in some horror movie, as he heard a deep baritone voice singing softly along to the music. He tried to hold a laugh as he watched the hand tap the steering wheel, lips moving to a song by the Spice Girls.

"And who are you suppose to be, 'dark spice'?" He said, fighting to keep a straight face even as his lips twitched up.

The black haired's head turned slightly to the side and he said in a stern, but low voice. "If you tell anyone, you're dead." Also giving the 'And I mean it' look.

Smile faltering, Yusuke gulped. "Understood…my lips are sealed." He said, deciding the blurring view out the side window looked really interesting, he didn't see the smirk on the other's face.

In no time, they were downtown, fighting the local traffic until Hiei parked in a community parking lot. "This is as close as I can get. We'll have to walk from here." He said.

They got out and Yusuke let the shorter man take the lead. Maneuvering through foot traffic, they finally found themselves looking at a four story, stone brick, historic building, from across the street. The street and sidewalk had been closed off by barricades keeping both car and foot traffic away from the front of the building.

The press was the only ones in front of the building and uniform police were keeping them away from the main doors by cordoning them off on either side along the stairs.

"Do you see him?" Yusuke asked as they scanned the people hanging out, on their side of the street, waiting to hear word. There were about a hundred people mulling around wanting to get in on the hype.

"Not yet." Hiei said.

Camera's started clicking and flashing as the double doors opened. Karasu strolled out of the building flanked by two men in business suits, obviously his lawyers. Reporters started yelling. "Karasu, what do you think about the bail being set at a hundred thousand." "What are you going to do until the trial starts?" "What's your reaction to your 'employees' comments about you getting them into prostitution at such a young age?" "Were you involved in the death of Master Genkai?" Karasu ignored them as he walked down the steps, with the two men, towards a waiting limo.

One of the men opened the door, but before Karasu got in, he looked over to see a red headed figure, whose hair was up in a high pony tail and wearing white slacks with a deep red blouse. He watched as the figure sauntered their way towards him and motioned to the men to give him a moment, walking halfway as the red head approached him, they stopped several feet ahead of the limo.

"Kurama, my my, to what do I owe the pleasure. Come to help me celebrate my freedom?" Karasu asked.

"Your freedom is for a 'limited time only'." Kurama's voice was calm.

"So you say, but I have the best lawyers money can buy, even though you emptied one of my accounts." Karasu smirked.

Kurama didn't say anything, only presented something to the long black haired.

"A rose…for me, how sweet." Karasu mused smiling. He wrapped his hand around the red head's and pulled the flower to his nose so he could smell it. "This is nothing compared to your beauty." He said, leaning in for a kiss.

Not moving, the red head let Karasu kiss him.

At that moment a tall, lean, short black haired man came running up behind them. Everyone froze as he screamed. "See you in hell!"

Before Karasu could even turn around, a knife appeared in the man's hand, only to disappear into the long black haired's upper back.

"W…ha…t….." He gurgled, eyes looking to green ones, only to see nothing but a cold stare. The blade apparently hit the heart as blood filled Karasu's mouth, bubbling forth as his lips tried to move.

"It's for your grave." Kurama's voice was just as cold, his eyes narrowing to stare directly at the man dying in front of him.

Karasu tried to hold himself up by grabbing onto the red head, but Kurama didn't move and he lost his grip, falling to the ground where blood oozed out onto the sidewalk.

Police swarmed in like flies and the man with the knife was on the ground in an instant. He was quickly handcuffed and voices started yelling as the press, who had broke through the barricades, moved in to get a closer look.

The duo had been right across from the limo and though they had seen the whole thing, they hadn't heard a word. The short black haired watched as the red head morphed back into the crowd that was forming. "Come on." He said, motioning the raven haired to follow him.

Yusuke didn't say anything as he followed Hiei to the end of the block. He kept trying to see what the red eyes was seeing, but ended up needing to concentrate on keeping up with the shorter figure as he picked up speed, almost running.

After two blocks, Hiei crossed the street, Yusuke right behind him.

"Shuiichi!" He heard the black haired yell.

Looking in the direction Hiei had yelled. Chocolate eyes saw Kurama, who was now wearing a green men's dress shirt and his hair down, which was flowing freely as he quickly walked down the sidewalk away from them.

Shuiichi turned and his eyes went wide for the briefest of seconds as he saw the two make their way towards him.

"What…?" The red head was going to ask what they were doing there, but Hiei grabbed his arm, guiding him to a back ally.

"Yusuke, stay with him, I'll go and get the car." He said, disappearing around the corner.

"Did you plan that?" Yusuke asked. His voice tinged with anger, disbelief and fear.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kurama said, blinking large innocent looking eyes at him.

Yusuke ran a hand through his hair, pacing. The two didn't say anymore and after what felt like forever, but was only about 15 minutes, the black Porsche appeared. With Kurama sitting on Yusuke's lap, the car blended in with traffic, going the opposite direction of the sirens.

a)a)a)a

Hiei parked in the back alley behind the bar and the trio made their way up the fire escape to the apartment.

"Sit." He said to the red head, who didn't say anything as he obeyed and took a seat on the couch.

"Hiei, I didn't know that was going to happen." Kurama said.

"Not now." Hiei growled, turning on the TV. Breaking news was being reported.

"_**It seems the man simply known as Karasu has been murdered in front of the courthouse. Sources say a man by the name of Sensui, who was an employee of Karasu, who is accused of running a child prostitution ring, knifed him in the back as he went to leave the courthouse after a one hundred thousand dollar bail had been made. Judge Mukuro set the bail saying there was a lack of actual evidence to hold him until trial. Again, we repeat…the man known as Karasu, who was just let out on bail, pending a trial on child prostitution and possible involvement in the death of the female martial artist Genkai almost ten years ago, along with numerous other pending charges, has been attacked and killed in front of the courthouse, by a man we know only as Sensui, who was set to testify against Karasu at the prosecutor's request. Karasu was pronounced dead just a short time ago. There was a woman seen talking to Karasu just as he was about to get in his limo, but no one seems to know who she is or what connection, if any, she may have in the killing. We have heard that no news sources covering the courthouse managed to get a picture of the woman. Police are still trying to look into who she is and want to talk to her. If you have any information, the police ask you to call the number at the bottom of the screen."**_

"They think you're a woman?" Yusuke said, though not to anyone in particular.

"That's a start." Hiei said.

"I told you I had nothing to do with it and I'll tell the police the same thing." The red head said.

"Let me call Kuwabara, he'll know what to do." The raven haired said.

"I'll just go to the station and tell them what happened…I said I didn't have…" The red head was cut off.

"Enough…everyone just shut up." Hiei said loudly, holding his hands up to get the two to listen to him. "We are not…I repeat 'not' going to do 'anything' until we know for sure what the police know, if they think you're a woman and have no pictures of you…then let it go. Karasu's dead and they have the person who did it." He stated loudly and firmly, looking back and forth between the two, making eye contact to make sure they had heard him. "I have a plan."

If the situation was not so serious, it would have been comical, for Kurama just stared with a blank face, his mouth slightly gapped. He had never known Hiei to raise his voice in all the years he had known him. Yusuke looked just as shocked, he didn't think the short figure was even capable of speaking that loud.

Giving a slight nod to show he trusted Hiei, Kurama said. "What do you want to do?"

End Chapter 13


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"We won't deny we were there, but we were across the street and didn't see a thing." Hiei said.

"But Hiei, why should I try to hide the fact that it was me who was talking to Karasu. I had nothing to do with the attack." Kurama said calmly.

Hiei turned to him with cold piercing eyes. "Then why the scam, how much did you offer him?"

Yusuke blinked at the change in the black haired's demeanor.

Kurama just sat there, not the least bit intimidated and said firmly. "I didn't offer him anything. I don't know what you mean, but I didn't offer anyone anything. I just went there to…?" He was interrupted.

"You offered to pay him to take the blame. You knew he wouldn't serve a long jail term, he only has to plead with the court and tell them about the abuse then they'll offer him leniency, giving an early parole." Hiei said firmly.

Kurama smirked. "That's a good theory, but how can I pay him, I don't have a dime to my name."

"You were on more than one account." Hiei said.

"Only the one…you know that, you also know that all that money went to the hospital." Kurama voice had turned cold.

"What if I knew of other accounts?" Hiei said, crossing his arms. "Off shore ones."

"You make a lousily liar Hiei." Kurama smirked, calling his bluff.

"I know you." Hiei stated.

Kurama's eyes narrowed. "So you think."

Yusuke felt like a third wheel, these two were talking like he wasn't even in the room. He didn't understand all of what they were talking about, but when Hiei mentioned the money, it dawned on him. "That's why you changed shirts." He blurted out. The other two looked at him. "Damn." He muttered, saying. "That was the same stunt you pulled at the bank!? The hair up in the ponytail, the woman's blouse, you probably even changed shirts then too, you wanted them to think you were a woman."

"Aren't you the detective?" Hiei scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Yusuke ignored the shorter figure and walked over to glare down at Kurama. "Is it true, did you get Sensui to kill Karasu?"

Kurama looked up at him, a look of complete innocence on his face, except for his eyes, they where ice cold, dead of all emotion.

"Damn it, answer me…you owe me an answer." Yusuke growled. His nostrils flared, refusing to believe that this man he had come to care about had anything to do with murdering another human being, even if that human being was a scum bag.

Kurama just stared.

"That was the terms you made with him, wasn't it?" Yusuke said, running a hand through his hair before throwing his arms up in the air. "That's why you did anything he asked…you conned him into getting your name on the accounts and then started emptying them behind his back. I…I can't believe I didn't figure that out…you let him pay for everything while you rob him blind then when I came along and everything happened the way it did, you took advantage of it and used it to have him killed."

"Well, that was a lot of rambling…I little confusing even to me, but I think you got the idea…give the man a cigar." Kurama said, a sly smile on his lips as he waved a hand mockingly.

Yusuke was dumb stuck. "When did you know I was writing a book on Genkai?"

"Oh, forgotten already have we…" Kurama started, crossing his leg and placing his hands on his knee. "Let me refresh your memory…the night of the social gathering ring a bell." He arched an eyebrow as he watched realization appear on the raven haired's face. "The lovely Keiko was all too proud to announce it."

"So you've been using me to set Karasu up…is that what your telling me." Yusuke accused, he still couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You're good, that didn't take you as long to figure out as I thought it would." Kurama smirked.

"Did you know about this?" Yusuke turned to Hiei.

Hiei just shrugged, his posture and facial expressions showing no answer either way.

"What about the park, when…" He was going to say when they saw Bui and the red head's reaction to seeing him. "Then after you were…" He was going to say raped and what happened afterwards. "Last night when…" He just couldn't believe this, he always stuck his foot in his mouth and this time was no exception. He had fallen for the oldest trick in the book. It didn't make sense at the moment, but he had been set up. Each encounter made to set the wheels in motion.

The smirk faded and Kurama said with poise. "Yusuke, I can't fall for every sorry piece of ass I let fuck me…now can I? But, you were good…." His voice went flat. "Even for a cold fish."

Yusuke froze as his face paled, a million thoughts and emotions blazed across his mind. His hands slowly squeezed into fists, each knuckle popping loudly as they turned white from the pressure. Slowly turning, he walked to the kitchen and opened the door, pausing and taking a deep breath, he said. "You two deserve each other." Not looking back, he walked out, the sound of the door slamming echoed for what seemed like forever.

Yusuke walked calmly down the stairs, but once he hit the street, his knees buckled and he beat the ground with his fists. Tears threaten to fall, but he refused to cry, he was a man damn it and his mother always told him crying was for babies. With his hands sore and his heart hurting, the raven haired got up and not paying attention to where he was heading, walked away.

Back inside the apartment, Hiei watched Kurama's face fall, his eyes watering, yet no tears fell. "Are you sure you wanted to do that?" He said softly.

The red head ran to the bathroom, the door barely closed before the sound of retching started.

_**(One month later…)**_

Yusuke ran a hand through his hair, pushing bangs away from his face in complete fluster and it wasn't helping that the computer decided to be a pain in the ass at this particular moment.

"Damn it." He muttered, tapping the save. "I give up." Pushing away from the table, he headed to the kitchen, deciding what he needed was a break and a beer.

Coming back out of the kitchen with a chilled brew, he pushed aside the clutter and flopped on the couch. Having to take a moment to search for the remote, he turned on the TV to a wrestling match and settled in.

A bottle and a half later, a knock was heard on the front door. Assuming it was Keiko, who'd been dropping by at irregular intervals to see how the book was coming along. He got up without taking his eyes off the TV and opened the door without even looking at who it was as he made his way back to the couch. "Oh come on…I know this is fake, but please…you can do better than that." His eyes glued to the lame action.

"Am I interrupting something?" Came a deep voice from the door.

"What?" Yusuke said, finally looking over to see Hiei standing just outside the open door. To say he was 'shocked' was an understatement. He didn't think the bartender knew where he lived.

"Shuiichi mentioned where you lived, if you were wondering." Hiei said, as if reading the raven haired's mind. He couldn't help but take in the man's appearance, but decided not to say anything.

"If you're here to ask me why I haven't been 'visiting', I've been busy. I am writing a book after all and have a tight schedule." Yusuke informed, taking a drink.

"May I come in?" The small figure asked.

"Suit yourself." Yusuke offered and sat back down on the couch.

Hiei stepped in, shutting the door before making his way to the couch. It didn't go unnoticed by the black haired that the apartment was a mess. Empty beer and soda bottles laid about, along with empty food containers from Chinese and pizza places covered the floor, coffee table and clothes were flung everywhere, not to mention the smell. He noticed the computer desk in the corner with its papers and folders in stacks on the floor, forming a half circle around the chair. He almost smirked at the one pound M&M's candy bags, some empty, others half full that were placed around the computer, within easy munching distance.

"You've been busy." He said.

"Yeah." Yusuke said, looking around at the mess, knowing what the shorter figure was thinking. "I don't think when I write. I'll get to cleaning once I'm done and the deadline is over." He took another drink, focusing back on the TV.

"You're still writing the book?" Hiei questioned, his eyebrow arching, a little taken aback to hear that.

"I have a deal with Keiko, but don't worry…" Yusuke answered then smirked. "It's still a fiction one. I have no intentions of making myself look like an ass." His eyes never left the TV.

"Could you turn that annoying racket off?" Hiei growled.

"Why?" Yusuke asked standing, not liking the tone in the shorter figure's voice. "It's not like you were invited to come here or anything."

In a blink of an eye, that shorter figure grabbed the remote and turned off the TV, tossing the controller on the couch with a look of 'you want to try me.'

"What the hell's your problem?" Yusuke growled himself, ignoring the stare and making one of his own, how dare this man even show his face.

"My problem…that's easy." Hiei huffed. "I'm tired of the moping, which seems to be all anyone does anymore"

"Oh, now I see, you came here to enjoy my particular blend. Well, I'm sure you won't like the bitter taste, so get the hell out." Yusuke grumbled and pointed to the door.

"Do you not realize you did exactly what Kurama wanted you to do?" Hiei said calmly.

"Maybe." Yusuke said, stepping back, not really knowing what Hiei meant, but calling his bluff.

"Kurama pushed you away deliberately, just like he does everyone he's gotten close to." Hiei said.

"He sure as hell has a funny way of doing it…I don't play those games." Yusuke said, sitting back down and looking at the blank TV.

"Yeah right" Hiei snorted. "Shuiichi still wants you."

"He used me, or did you honestly not know?" Yusuke wondered.

"He saw an opening and took it." Hiei stated.

"Well, glad I came through for him." Yusuke quirked while toasting with his beer.

"He didn't think he would end up caring for you." Hiei said, using one hand to push at a stack of debris, dumping the contents out of a chair so he could sit.

"And you know this how." Yusuke wondered, rolling his eyes, not believing a word.

"I just know." Hiei said softly.

"Then you won't mind enlightening me ol' wise one." Yusuke said, getting up and going to the kitchen. He came back with two beers, he held one out.

"I don't drink." The black haired said, refusing the offer.

"You own a bar and don't drink…didn't figure that." Yusuke mused, taking his seat and sitting one beer on the coffee table. He opened the other one and took a swig.

"Do you care for him?" Hiei asked, ignoring the remark.

"I don't know." Yusuke said softly, looking at the beer.

"It's a simple question." Hiei said.

"Maybe, but…" Yusuke muttered, he didn't know how to explain why he cared for the red head even after knowing he'd been used.

"Are you afraid of being labeled 'gay'?" Hiei smirked.

"NO!" Yusuke's boasted, slamming his beer on the table. "That has nothing to do with it. Like I told Kurama…I've never judged the way people live and I won't start now."

"Then what is it?" Hiei asked.

"I…I…don't think…I can trust him." Yusuke whispered, looking down.

"Shuiichi's lost." Hiei said, getting the raven haired's attention. "He needs to be there for someone else, it was the way he was raised. Even before he got involved with Karasu, his mother controlled his life… he's a follower in need of a leader."

"Sounds like he needs a master." Yusuke joked, taking a drink.

"Maybe." Hiei said, causing the raven haired to look at him with large eyes. "Or maybe he just needs someone to stand up and stake their claim."

"Why does he go by the name Kurama?" Yusuke asked, playing with the bottle.

Hiei took a deep breath and said calmly. "He chose the name to dissociate himself with what he was allowing to happen, it was a way for him to think it was happening to someone else, not him. Also so his mother wouldn't know."

Yusuke nodded in understanding, no matter how mad he got, he still felt sorry for the red head. He could never image going through almost 10 years of well…'hell' would be a good word, even if he allowed it. He commented. "He said you two were together at one time, why don't you two just kiss and make up."

"We can't be together." Hiei said with a light shake of his head.

Yusuke raised an eyebrow, but didn't look up.

"I have my reasons." Hiei added.

Really wanting to know those reasons, but not asking, the raven haired said. "Then why me?" He looked up to see crimson eyes watching him.

"Because Koenma thinks he can make Shuiichi happy, but I don't trust the guy." Hiei admitted.

"Koenma." Again Yusuke's eyebrows rose.

"He's been coming in almost everyday trying to sweet talk Shuiichi into eloping with him, saying he could provide him with anything and everything he's ever wanted."

"He should take it." Yusuke said with a nod.

"Koenma just wants his body and Shuiichi knows it. I can tell he doesn't want to be Kurama anymore…he wants a 'normal' life. I think you can give that to him, you don't want him for just his body or his 'talent'. That's what made him get scared, he saw you were different and didn't know how to handle it, so he did to you what he did to me, he pushed."

"That's interesting." Yusuke whispered, nodding his head in thought. 'That's not how Kurama told it.' Taking a sip, he asked. "So how's he doing?"

"Lost, sleeping on the couch. I've been making him work the bar, gets him out of the apartment." Hiei informed.

"He hasn't gotten his own place yet?" He asked, though he did hear the 'sleeping on the couch' part.

Hiei shrugged. "He has no money and knows I won't kick him out."

"But if he took all that money?" Yusuke wondered, if the red head did then he could surely live off that, invest right and you could live off the interest alone.

"He told the truth about that, he was only on the one account and it all went to the hospital." Hiei said.

"But you accused…." Yusuke sat up, confused.

"I know what I did." Hiei growled. "But I had to make sure. I still don't know where he would have gotten the money or what kind of deal he made but…." He shrugged.

"So you still think he paid Sensui to kill Karasu and take full blame." Yusuke's said, his head was starting to hurt.

"We may never know…he's refused to talk about anything that's happened since you walked out." Red eyes looked to chocolate ones.

The raven haired sat there staring at the floor, lost in thought. So it was only the one account and there was still no truth to him having Karasu killed. Thinking of the money, he asked. "How's his mother?"

Hiei also studied the floor. "They found a treatment that seems to be working, but only time will tell. The new doctor has mentioned that if she keeps doing well, she can go home."

"She still has a home?" Yusuke's asked, his eyes widening as he wondered why Shuiichi wasn't living there if she did.

"No, sold it when she needed the money." The black haired said, knowing what the raven haired was thinking. "He'll get a place when she's ready to get out."

"He won't have any money, he'll need a job."

"Karasu let him get his high school degree, but…" Hiei paused and didn't need to finish the statement. Now days you needed at least a four year degree to even get your foot in the door.

"He can do community college courses….that's what I did." Yusuke said to no one in particular.

"Yeah, that's what you did….but what are you going to do now?" Hiei asked, standing up. "Thanks for the beer." And with that remark, he left.

Yusuke sat there for a few minutes. Should he believe Hiei? Hiei was not the type of person to go out of his way to talk to someone. Kurama…Shuiichi said he only provided information when he felt they needed to know. Did Shuiichi really feel sorry for what he'd done and according to the bar owner, still wanted him? The raven haired pinched the bridge of his nose, his head hurting from all the thinking and emotions he was feeling. Picking up a pair of sweats, he changed and went for a jog. It always helped clear his head.

After a jog through the park and a lot of soul searching, he bounded up the stairs two at a time to see Kuwabara leaning on the rail next to the door.

"What's up?" He asked, keying in.

"There you are, I tried your cell phone, but heard it ringing inside." The tall orange haired said, following him in. Seeing the look of the place, he added. "When did your place implode?"

"Funny." Yusuke said, going to the kitchen and coming back with a bottle of water. "Want anything?"

"Uh….no thank you." Kuwabara answered, trying to control his gag reflexes, the smell was making him nauseated.

"What's brings you to my humble abode?" Yusuke asked, offering the man the chair that Hiei had emptied earlier.

"Hiei said you haven't been to the bar in weeks." The tall man said, taking the seat, but sitting on the edge.

"Yeah well…I have a book to write and…" Yusuke trailed off, taking the seat on the couch, he wasn't going to say he was trying to avoid a certain red head.

"Have you been sick…you look like hell?" Kuwabara said, noticing the dark circles under the chocolate eyes.

"And you always look like a bed of roses." Yusuke mocked.

"You look pale and it also looks like you've lost weight." Kuwabara said with concern in his voice and eyes. He was guessing about the pale part, for the raven haired had at least a weeks worth of hair growth on his face, not to mention the hair, 'when was the last time he had a hair cut?'

"You know I'm writing a book." Yusuke shrugged. "You know how I get…I'm sure you didn't come here to offer me a shot in GQ, so what gives?" The raven haired wanted the subject changed.

Kuwabara knew how Yusuke had acted on his first book because they had been roommates at the time and he knew it had never gotten this bad. Something else was bothering his friend, but taking the hint, he said. "Well, I thought you'd like to hear the latest on Karasu." He saw the sad look in the chocolate eyes, but decided not to ask.

"He's dead, why are you still digging around?" Yusuke asked, taking a drink and reaching for a towel to wipe his face.

"We've been looking into his records and you might find this interesting." Kuwabara received a nod to continue. "Seems Karasu had a doctor on his payroll."

"What?!" Yusuke sat up, shocked. "Say that again."

"Karasu had a doctor he was making monthly payments to." Kuwabara said.

"Wait…he was paying for Shori's treatments." Yusuke muttered, biting his lip, thinking.

"But under the table?" The orange haired questioned.

"Why would he pay under the table?" Yusuke pondered.

"We confronted the doctor…a doc Kaitou and he said he was being paid for 'personal' treatments to help Ms. Minamino…funny though." Kuwabara smirked. When Yusuke arched an eyebrow, he added. "I went to talk to him again, but he resigned, the hospital said he turned in his noticed and left, no forwarding address, nothing…and they had no idea he was taking money outside what the hospital was paying."

The thought hit Yusuke like a ton of bricks. "You think he was keeping her sick, a way to black mail Kur…Shuiichi."

"Thought of that too, but we'll never know, unless we happen to run into the doctor, had nothing to arrest him on so we have no reason to be looking for him and last I heard, Ms. Minamino was responding well to treatments under a new doctor."

"Did you tell Shuiichi this?" Yusuke asked, feeling sick to his stomach. Surely the red head hadn't known Karasu was doing this to his mother. How had Hiei known she was under a new doctor? Kuwabara gave him the answer.

"I told him yesterday, that's how I heard you haven't been to the bar in awhile." He said, watching his friend's face pale and become lost in thought, he asked. "Something wrong?"

"Ah…no." Yusuke stuttered with a shake of his head, coming out of his thoughts. With a nervous laugh he said. "I've just been busy…got a book to write…thanks for dropping by." The raven haired stood, motioning towards the door.

"Oooo…kay." Kuwabara said slowly, standing up and making his way to the door. "See ya, don't be a stranger." He added, walking away and leaving Yusuke standing there.

The door closed and Yusuke shook his head, clearing his thoughts. 'Why the hell do I care?' He thought. He'd been used, conned and literally screwed…man this was better than any book he could ever hope to write. Downing the rest of the water, he went back to the computer. He needed to get the latest outline done for the next chapter before Keiko called or dropped by to yell at him. Getting online so he could do a general search for information on the temple and get dates for when Genkai used the place for her dojo, he paused when he noticed his hands were shaking. 'Damn it…I can't think about this now.' Cursing himself, he could deny it to anyone but himself that the past month has been killing him. The dreams about the red head were still occurring, so he tried to stay awake, but he would eventually fall asleep. He tried to think of other things, like strangling that beautiful lean neck, but nothing worked, even drinking to the point he would pass out didn't do it. Why couldn't he stay mad at Shuiichi? Would he have done the same thing if the roles had been reversed? Did Hiei really believe he could help the red head?

'Can't think about this.' He berated himself again as his hands moved over the keys, his breath hitched at the site that came up.

Yusuke blinked and his jaw dropped as he took in pictures of the 'employees' of the escort service. "How the hell did that come up?" He muttered, not wanting to believe Karasu had a website.

Looking to the search, he noted what he had typed. 'Kurama what should I do.' Did he really type that? Looking at the pictures, his eyes picked out the color print of the flaming red head. Under the photo was the caption 'I could be yours.' His whole body started trembling. 'I need to get out of here.' He told himself, he had been jogging a lot lately, it was the only thing he could think to do when he felt a panic attack coming on. Turning from the computer, he forced himself not to look at the picture, though it was now burned into his brain. He went to stand but his knees buckled and he fell to the floor, scattering the nice neat stacks of papers.

Crying out, he beat the floor in frustration as tears started falling. No matter how hard he tried to control it, the salty liquid fell. Letting exhaustion take over, he curled into fetal position, letting the carpet absorb the fluid.

a)a)a)a

Hiei finally stepped into the apartment, it was almost midnight and only the full moon was illuminating the small place. Walking quietly, he wasn't surprised to see the red head on the couch. Making it to the kitchen, he was just about to pour himself a drink of juice when he heard a whimper from across the room. Sighing, he placed the glass down and pinched the bridge of his nose. 'Here we go.' He thought, almost every night the same thing.

Going over, he studied the red head as he slept. Shuiichi was laying on his side, back against the couch, arms hugging a pillow. He waited and when he didn't hear anything, he turned to head towards the bedroom. He stopped however when he heard a gasp. Turning back around, the black haired got on his knees and ran a hand through the short red hair. He still couldn't believe Shuiichi had cut his hair. A few days after the incident with Karasu and Yusuke, he had come back up after opening the bar to see Shuiichi sitting in the middle of the floor, hacking the red locks and letting them drop to the floor, his green eyes swollen from crying. Karasu had made him grow his hair long and it appeared Shuiichi hated it, so he decided to take matters into his own hands by grabbing a dagger off one of the selves. With the damage done, the only thing the black haired could do was take a pair of scissors and even it up, and be thankful it was hair and not skin he'd decided to cut. In the months since, the red hair had filled out. It was now curly and kind of made him look like he was twelve again.

Shuiichi sighed in his sleep, liking the feel of his hair being brushed. Thinking he had settled him, Hiei went to stand but stopped again as another whimper came out. "Sh…it's okay." He whispered, getting back on his knees and running his fingers through the hair again. The red head leaned into the hand, moving his head to prompt the fingers to move. Hiei leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Your safe, you know this, so you need to sleep, nothing's going to happen to you here." He whispered near the pale lips. Those pale lips came up and brushed against his, moaning as they tried to move closer. "No, you don't need to do that." Hiei said softy, but with firmness, wondering how many times Kurama had been taken as he slept, his body trained to respond to touch and coerced until he performed.

The red head seem to pause, but then leaned up and kissed him again, harder as he made direct contact with his lips and at the same time lean hands came up to grab him, pulling him to deepen the kiss.

"Shuiichi." Hiei managed to get out once his lips were freed.

"Sh…I'll take care of you." Came a whispered reply.

"No." He said with a stern voice, bringing his hands up to remove the ones that had wrapped around his neck.

"Hiei, please…I need you." The red head pleaded.

Hiei could tell the red head was still somewhat asleep. "I said 'no', I'll hold you, but I will not do something you'll regret.

"I've never regretted you." Shuiichi breathed, trying to put his arms back.

The black haired leaned in, kissing the pale lips, making the taller figure moan. Placing lean hands back around the black haired's neck. The red head then pulled the shorter figure so he lay on top of him. They kissed while grinding their bodies together, allowing the friction to heighten their growing arousals.

"I can't do this." Hiei gasped, pushing his body up away from Shuiichi and composing himself.

"It's okay, it's what we want." Shuiichi said, taking his hands and trying to remove the blue tank top.

"No, it's not….we both know that." Hiei said, getting up and walking away.

"You don't know what I want." He heard as he went to the kitchen. Sighing, the black haired fumbled around for a moment before coming back with a glass of juice.

"Drink." He said, offering the glass.

"I'm not thirsty." The red head said sitting up.

"You haven't eaten much and I know you're dehydrated, its juice…you need the vitamins." Hiei firmly stated and pushed the glass forward, forcing the red head to take it.

Shuiichi took a few gulps, handing the glass back, he smirked. "There, satisfied mother?"

"Yes." Hiei said and went to place the glass in the sink. Coming back, he sat down next to the taller figure.

"You didn't have to do that." Shuiichi said his voice now drowsy. He looked down as his eyes grew heavy.

"It was for the best." Hiei said softly, taking an arm and pulling the taller figure towards him.

The red head sighed and settled into the welcoming embrace, closing his eyes as the sleeping powder took affect.

Hiei sat there with the too lean frame leaning against him and played with the short red locks until he heard content, peaceful breathing. He sat there hoping Yusuke would come around soon and would come to stake his claim.

End Chapter 14


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

_**(Juicy Pineapple)**_

The chime sounded as Yusuke stepped in the Dragon's Den Bar. He felt a little self conscious as he walked in like he owned the place, but he was on a mission and now was not the time to lose his courage. Pausing to let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting and to run a hand through his recently cut hair. He felt the new stiff white dress shirt, already damp from sweat, scratched his skin as he rubbed sweaty hands on faded jeans. Taking a deep breath, his eyes landed on the figure behind the bar and he watched a black eyebrow rise over a crimson eye. The bartender returned his stare for a second or two and then with a slight angled nod, motioned to the end of the room.

Returning a nod of his own, the raven hair looked to see Shuiichi standing at the last table, his shoulders slightly moving up and down as he appeared to be chuckling softly, there must be someone sitting at the table.

'He cut his hair?' Yusuke thought, closing his mouth after he realized it was opened in utter surprise and wondered what made him do it. Obviously Hiei had failed to mention 'that' little detail. He just stood there taking in the lean figure, noting that he also appeared to have lost some weight, but other than that, he appeared fine. However, emotionally was a completely different subject.

He watched as the red head moved his hand when the person at the table tried to hold it. The red head's figure was blocking his view so he was unable to see who that person was. With the desire to flee the bar growing to an almost unbearable level, he got the courage to walk across it, letting the anger at the nerve of such a person trying to hold the red head's hand without his consent, motivate him. Every eye in the room, for some reason, decided to watch him walk across, making him self-conscious.

Hiei was one of the ones to watch the raven haired walk across the room, three days, it took him three days to finally come, but seeing the way he looked, the bartender thought. 'He cleans up well.'

Shuiichi didn't see the figure behind him approach, but the person sitting did. A look of surprise, confusion and then pure rage played across their face in a matter of seconds as Yusuke appeared behind the red head. These facial features didn't go unnoticed by the figure standing and he spun just as the raven haired got within arms reach.

Shock, followed by fear, flashed across green eyes. "Yusuke…umm." Shuiichi tried to say something, but Yusuke had grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him towards him so he could plant a kiss fully on the mouth.

The red head's arms came up to try and push the raven haired away, but when he realized he wasn't going to be let go, he gave up and melted into the kiss. After what felt like an eternity and the few patrons hooting, hollering and calling cat whistles, Yusuke broke the kiss, but kept his hold.

Panting, he said. "Call me crazy, but…I don't care what you did. I don't even care about the sex…I just wanna reach to the real you inside."

"Yusuke." The red head said softly, tears starting to form.

"Koenma." He said with a nod, addressing the figure sitting at the table. Addressing the red head again, he smirked. "Come on…let's blow this two bit bar." He then turned and started walking back across the room towards the door.

The red head watched him walk away with a bit of surprise, but mostly confusion evident in his features. Feeling a hand take his, he looked down at it.

"You can still accept my offer." He heard.

Shuiichi looked back and forth between the figure and the hand. Surprise, again, set in as he watched the raven haired stop at the door then turn to look him dead in the face. "Shuiichi, it's time to go." Yusuke said before turning and walking out, the chime sounding loudly as the half dozen patrons in the room looked back to him.

A sly smile played across the red head's lips as he squeezed the hand holding his and muttered. "I like your offer."

a)a)a)a

_**(Smooth Key lime)**_

Yusuke keyed into his apartment and as the door closed, he leaned his back against it with a heavy sigh. "Damn, I hate this." He said softly. "Keiko knows I hate crowds." He just got back from attending a two hour pre-release book signing and now that he was home, his pent up nerves started relaxing, making him exhausted. He knew the publicist was just trying to promote sales, for the book was not schedule to be released until next week, but she had talked him into doing an autograph signing with a limited edition hardcover pre-release. He had to admit, with the press there covering it, he did well, his hand was still cramping up from writing his name so many times.

Taking off his dress coat, he headed to the kitchen, throwing the coat across the back of a chair as he passed. Opening the refrigerator to get a beer in hopes of calming his nerves, he didn't see one and found himself leaning in, digging around in desperation of finding one hidden somewhere in the depths of leftovers.

"What…I'm out of beer." He said to the empty kitchen. Walking out of the kitchen to the living room, he added. "Looks like a visit to the Dragon's Den's in order."

The figure sitting on the couch looked up from the laptop on his lap.

"Oh Yusuke, I was just there last night." The red head said, putting the laptop on the coffee table before standing.

"Sorry, but I need a beer. Keiko got my nerves on edge and I need to calm down." He replied.

"I take it, it went well." Shuiichi said, coming over and wrapping his arms around the raven haired's waist.

"Yeah, yeah it did, she said the book might even make it on the New York Time's top ten bestsellers list." He said, returning the gesture, but placed his hands in the back pants pockets, giving the firm rear a squeeze.

His book, even though a fiction one, ended up covering the life of the former master. He wrote about her childhood, moving on to how she got into the martial arts, the students she taught and encouraged, and lastly her unfortunate death, which he did write as an accident. He left Karasu, Bui and the former DA out and he changed the names of the students he used as part of the story. The book turned out to be a dedication to her life and people seemed to like it, especially when he said a portion of the sells were going to the temple's scholarship fund for the martial arts. Yukina, the curator of the temple, even said she would sell copies of the book in the temple's gift shop and he couldn't have been happier.

The only thing he hated was the publicity needed to promote the book, the press, book signings and talk shows were driving him crazy, but he needed to do it.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there, but the paper was due and I needed to finish it and get it posted." Shuiichi said pulling the collar of the raven haired's dress shirt aside so he could nibble on a shoulder.

"I…..kn…ow." Yusuke breath hitched at the feeling.

The only thing that had kept the raven haired from losing it at all these functions had been the red head at his side. When he had walked out of the bar that day, he really didn't know if the red head was going to follow him or not, but right when he was about to think he wasn't coming, the red head walked out and grabbed his hand. They walked away and that, you could say, was that. The red head moved in the next day.

Now, eight months later, they were still taking it one day at a time and in that time so much had changed in both their lives.

One of the girls working for Hiei had to quit, so Shuiichi began filling in and the black haired started paying him as an employee. This worked out well for the red head when he started taking online college courses, studying the criminal justice system until he made up his mind about what part of the field he really wanted to pursue. Yusuke obviously finished his book, attended meetings on the cover design, the print details and even saw a photographer to have his picture taken for the back inside jacket flap. (The flap also contains a small bio on the author.)

Shuiichi's mother had been released from the hospital about a month ago. During her last month in the hospital, she befriended another patient and they decided to share an efficiency apartment together to split expenses. And most of all, Shori was able to get on government assistance, so she was doing well and her health had greatly improved.

Shuiichi never talked about Karasu's possible involvement in keeping Shori sick and Yusuke never brought it up. Nothing about the red head's life the past ten years has yet to be mentioned, but the raven haired knew it was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. He would study the red head and see that he was about to break down, though he hasn't yet, there were the nightmares that woke both of them up nightly.

"You know, I have another way to calm your nerves." Shuiichi said, pulling back to unbutton the raven haired's shirt and pushing it over the muscular pale shoulders.

"You do huh." Yusuke muttered, leaning his head back as he was kissed from his chin down to his Adam's apple.

"Uh huh." The red head said, moving to lick and nip a nipple.

Yusuke grabbed Shuiichi by the hair, gently pulling him so they faced each other. The red hair was now about shoulder length and it seemed Shuiichi was letting it get long again, which didn't bother the raven haired either way, whatever made the red head happy, made him happy.

"Are you sure?" He asked, looking into green eyes for any signs of possible regret.

The red head nodded, they had only had sex a couple of times and Yusuke couldn't help but be concerned, not wanting to push. He tried not to pressure and felt guilty when the red head allowed himself to be taken. Only when Shuiichi tried to initiate the sex did they end up stopping for some reason or another.

Yusuke gave a firm nod and kissed the red head, pushing his tongue in when the pale lips parted to allow him access. He'd been learning a lot about same sex relationships, by looking things up on the internet. Shuiichi didn't know about it and it wasn't like he was ashamed to admit he didn't know, it was just 'he' wanted to understand the red head. He had learned terms like 'uke' and 'seme' and the roles they played in a male/male relationship. The red head seemed to want to play more of an uke role, so he tried to be seme and he had to admit, he was starting to like it.

_**(Tart Lemon)**_

Yusuke began pulling the t-shirt out from the tight blue jeans the red head was wearing, managing to get it over his head when lean arms rose to let him. They had broke apart long enough to get the shirt off and started kissing again as the red head worked on the raven haired's jeans. When the material was pushed to his thighs, Shuiichi stopped and asked.

"Would you like to go to the bedroom?"

Yusuke thought for a moment, but then remembered that the seme usually made the decisions, so he said. "No…I want to take you here."

Green eyes sparkled at the thought and the red head got on his knees, pushing pants and underwear down to pale ankles as he went.

The raven haired giggled as he was kissed and nipped on his inner thighs. He was so ticklish there, maybe ticklish wasn't the right term, it was more like a twitching sensation he felt when he was touch there.

Just when he was about to tell the red head enough with the tickling, a hand grabbed red hair as his member was taken in a hot mouth. At first, when Shuiichi had wanted to please him, he would feel guilt and thought he was using the red head, but again, the website he found made him understand that this was how an uke acted, wanting to please their seme partner. Knowing the red head was his, at least for the time being, for neither one talked much about the future, his guilt and worry began to fade with each passing day.

"Enough." He breathed, pushing the red head off his now throbbing member.

Shuiichi helped him step out of his pants before standing up and wrapping his arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss so he could taste himself on the pale lips of the red head.

Breaking apart, Yusuke pulled on the jeans the red head was still wearing. "These need to go." He said with a slight tug on the waistband.

"As you wish." The red head said and proceeded to unbutton the denim slowly, teasing the raven haired as he wiggled his hips while pushing the fabric down inch by 'oh the agony' inch.

Yusuke couldn't help but stare and lick his lips at the sight before him. He never thought he would be attracted to someone of the same sex, but he found himself enjoying the lean, toned, red head. Finding his body fascinating as he explored every inch of the pale flesh and learning what he liked and disliked when it came to pleasures.

In the beginning, he tried to please Shuiichi first, but learned the red head responded better if he was allowed to please him. Again it came down to the red head playing uke to him. It was kind of a stupid to look at their relationship that way, but it was the only thing that made sense to the author.

When the pants were kicked to the side, Yusuke closed the distance between them and started kissing again. He used his hands to touch the red head all over, pinching nipples and squeezing butt cheeks before pulling their hips together, letting their exposed erections rub against each other.

Pushing back, Shuiichi asked. "Would you…like me to prepare myself?" He was out of breath, panting lightly.

Yusuke had found that part a little strange and the red head had supposedly prepared himself the couple of times he had taken him. Deciding that needed to change, he said. "Will you teach me?"

Again, the answer was. "As you wish." The red head gave him a quick kissed before grabbing his hand and leading them to the bedroom.

"Why did we come in here?" The raven haired asked as his hand was let go and the red head opened the nightstand drawer.

"I got us some lube. It will make it easier for you." The red head said, opening the package.

"Was I hurting you before?" Yusuke asked with concern, realizing Shuiichi had not used any before.

"No, you weren't." He said with a shake of his head. "But this will help you." The red head showed him the tube. "Do you want to go back to the living room?" He asked.

Shaking his head 'no', Yusuke pushed the red head on the bed, straddling his hips. He explored the squirming body beneath him with his mouth and hands. "Tell me what to do." He finally breathed.

Shuiichi leaned up to whisper in his ear and chocolate eyes widen as he listened. "Are you sure?" He said when the red head pulled back.

"Yes, are you…uncomfortable with that?" Shuiichi asked, seeing slight disgust cross his partner's face.

"No, give it here." Yusuke said, reaching for the tube. Placing some on his fingers, he sat up and watched as red head spread his legs. Desire and lust filled the green eyes as he then lifted his hips to allow access.

'Gods, this was my dream, the legs spreading in wanton.' Yusuke thought, snapping out of it as a hand covered his, the one with the gel on it, and guided it between the red head's spread legs.

"Place one finger slowly." He heard softly. Doing what he was told, he looked up as the red head gasped. Thinking he had hurt him, the raven haired went to pull his finger out, but was stopped as the hand covered his again.

"Its okay, add another one and do a scissor motion." He heard.

Again, doing what he was told, he placed a second finger, hearing a moan as the red head arched his back then pressed down on his fingers. He moved his fingers as told and his erection pulsed at the sight of the figure under him. All he wanted to do was replace his fingers with his cock and feel that tightness wrapped around it. Keeping his eyes on the red head's face, he watched for any signs that he was hurting him. Green eyes half opened and brown eyes could see they were glazed over with lust and desire. The red head was also biting his lower lip, trying to control any noises. When he received a nod, he removed his fingers and heard a whimper, making him pause, but the red head wrapped his legs around his waist, urging him to continue.

Still watching for any signs he was going to hurt the figure under him, Yusuke stroked the rest of the gel on his erection and then sheathed himself with a moan and gasp as the tight passage incased him. The red head was right, the gel made it easier and he had a moment of regret, thinking he had hurt the man those other times. God knows the red head had been hurt by enough people and he didn't want to be one of them. Pausing, he forced himself to give the red head time to adjust and when Shuiichi thrust his hips up, he sat a pace, pounding into the red head faster as they both cried out in pleasure.

Shuiichi went to reach for his own throbbing erection, but opened his eyes in shock as his hand was slapped away. "I'll…take care of that." He heard and then a hand wrapped around his cock, setting a pace in time to the thrusts.

"Uh…yes….har…der." The red head gasped, placing his hands on the raven haired's shoulders and using them to pull him self up so he could kiss the now sweating, panting lips of his partner's.

In a matter of moments, they reached their peaks. Time stood still until Yusuke collapsed on the bed in exhaustion.

"Damn, now I'm even more tired." Yusuke chuckled, placing an arm across his forehead.

"But you are relaxed, yes." Shuiichi mused, rolling over on his side, snuggling into the sweating figure and tracing lazy patterns on his chest.

"You could say that." He said. Taking the hand and bringing it to his lips, giving it a kiss.

They laid there in silence.

Shuiichi finally looked up at to see Yusuke looking at the ceiling. "What are you thinking about?" He asked.

"What…oh…nothing really." Yusuke said, giving the red head a firm hug.

Shuiichi lowered his head, not wanting to push.

Yusuke took a deep breath. "I've been thinking about my life and what alls happened this past year." He said, subconsciously running his fingers over the red head's shoulder and back as he held him.

"And?" Shuiichi asked looking up, trying to read the man's face.

Yusuke shrugged, saying. "I'm happy…surprisingly happy…I can't explain why, even I don't understand it, but I 'do know'…you're one of the reasons and it's not just because of the great sex." He eyes narrowed in serious thought.

"But…you are happy?" Shuiichi asked, rolling on top of him and straddling his hips.

Looking him right in the eyes, Yusuke said. "Yes…yes, I'm happy."

The red head nodded, placing his head on the still sweaty chest.

Yusuke moved the arm that was resting on his forehead and began playing with the red locks, twirling the hair between his fingers. 'So soft.' He thought then asked. "What about you?"

When he didn't get an answer, he pulled on the red hair, making the head laying on him look up. He was surprised to see tears in the green eyes that only a moment ago were filled with lust.

"What's wrong?" He whispered.

"After all these years, I didn't think anyone could be happy with me outside of…" Shuiichi shrugged, laying his head back down.

"It's true." Yusuke said, wrapping both arms around the red head, holding him firmly. After a moment, he placed a hand on either side of the teary face, making eye contact. "That's because they didn't care to know you, I don't know much yet myself, but I'm pretty sure I know more than they think they do. They don't know how intelligent you are or how much you care for the few people you do know." He paused, feeling the lean figure tremble. "You know you're safe here, right…and you know I would never let anything happen to you."

Shuiichi tried to nod, but then whispered. "Yes." Closing his eyes as the tears continued to fall. "Thank you." He added.

"Come here." Yusuke said and pulled the red head down, holding him as he cried. He couldn't seem to stop when he found himself kissing the red head and the red head responded back.

Before he realized it, the raven haired found himself sporting another erection and felt Shuiichi lowing himself on him, taking them into bliss again.

_**(Sour apple)**_

Outside, in a dense patch of trees, a pair of beady eyes watched the apartment. Now that he knew where the red head was staying, he could plan his move to eliminate him and if needed, the other one as well. Watching for a few more minutes, the figure went to leave, but when he turned, he found himself staring at Kuwabara, who was eating a candy bar.

The orange haired was chewing on a bite as he said. "You know." (munch/munch/swallow) "If you would have just read the book…you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble." He finished, tearing off more wrapper to take another bite.

The figure raised an eyebrow. "How…?" The man proceeded to back up, only to have a couple of uniform officers step out of the bushes with their guns pointed.

"I knew you'd lay low, waiting to see if the book would be written and when it was, you'd worry that you were mentioned as the killer, but like I said. You should have read the book. Maybe you can get a copy in the prison library." Kuwabara smirked, motioning to the officers to move in on the former bodyguard and they arrested him without incident. When the fugitive was led away to a nearby cruiser, Kuwabara stayed behind to finish his candy bar. Crumbling up the wrapper, he looked to his friend's apartment. He'd heard Shuiichi had moved in with Yusuke and even knew they had started a relationship. What more was there to say, they seemed happy, so it was nobody's business but theirs.

An officer reappeared. "Sir, that was a good call, what made you think Bui would come to this apartment complex and to this particular building?"

Kuwabara turned, walking back towards the cars. "All part of being a detective." He said.

End Chapter 15

_**The End**_

_This story was inspired by……_

_**Like to get to know you well:**__ By Howard Jones_

_Like to get to know you well_

_So we can be one_

_Together we can cast away the fear_

_Together we can wipe away the tear_

_Together we can strip down the barriers and be one_

_Don't wanna talk about the weather_

_Don't wanna talk about the news_

_Just wanna get to the real you inside_

_Don't you think now is the time_

_We should be feelin'_

_Just wanna simply say_

_Won't let you slip away_

_People wanna talk about the future_

_Don't wanna linger on the past_

_Just wanna reach to the real you inside_

_Forget cold glances and rejections_

_Leave the things that separate_

_Build on a trust that we can stand on_

_Finding all are insecure_

_Opening the same door_

_Leaving out a stubborn pride_

_Seeing from another side_


End file.
